The Fox that Became a Dragon
by WildlyLaughing
Summary: The day that Yang took Ruby out in a wagon to find her mom, they were almost killed by Grimm. Luckily, a kid with the power to freeze Grimm in their tracks showed up and held them off long enough for her Uncle Qrow to save them. This is the story of how an orphaned fox faunus with silver eyes became Yang's kid brother, and their adventures afterward.
1. Table of Contents

**DISCLAIMER:** I only own my original characters. Everything else is the property of whomever it is that owns the IP, whether it's Monty Oum's successors, Rooster Teeth, or a 3rd party that I have no knowledge of .

 **TABLE OF CONTENTS**  
 **Book 1:** The Childhood Arc and full of Fluffy Goodness; Starts at "Prologue 1"  
 **Book 2:** The Signal Arc and full of Mystery and Action; Starts at "Book 2 Chapter 1"

*Note: I've tried to make it so that you could pick up the story without even reading Book 1, in case there's anyone that doesn't feel like reading a bunch of fluff. You don't have to start from Book 1 if you don't feel like it, no worries and I won't take offense.


	2. Prologue 1

**Prologue:**

 _In a forest, somewhere out there…. A 5 year-old girl with blonde hair pulled along a red wagon with a sleeping 3 year old with black hair inside it. The 3 year old was clutching a teddy bear as she slept, while the blonde-haired 5 year old clutched an old, worn picture with a map on the back. She was tired, her stomach kept making weird sounds, and her feet hurt from walking down the trail for so long._

 _'I don't wanna walk anymore…'_ She thought to herself. But she quickly shook her head, trying to fling those thoughts away as fast as she could.

This was for her daddy.

This was for her baby sister and for herself.

Her mom had gone out on another one of those "missions". Yang was always worried that she wouldn't come back from them, though. And she was right…. Her mom didn't come back this time. Daddy was always sad now, drinking his smelly "adult juice" all the time now. She never saw him smile anymore.

Then she found a picture in their attic! It turns out that she actually had another mom out there!

She didn't know what happened between her and daddy that made them not live together anymore, but she was sure she could fix it! She just had to follow the map on the back of the picture to her mom, then she could bring her back to daddy, then daddy would stop drinking his adult juice and smile again!

Plus, she and Ruby would have another mom to be there for them!

So she'd gotten Ruby to sleep, put her in their wagon and started walking to the place on the map. It was _soooo_ close, now. She could tell. The map said so!

Yang let out a happy smile at the thought that their family might be happy again soon. She was _soooo_ tired that she felt like her legs might give out soon. But she was already there. She could see it.

There was a cabin in front of her that looked _really_ old and stuff. It didn't matter to her, though. Her mom was going to be there, waiting for her. Just as soon as she opened the door...

*Plop*

Her legs finally gave out. She couldn't even make it the last few steps to open the door.

 _But it opened anyway…._

That's when the tired smile on her face _FROZE_.

Her mom wasn't there... _But they weren't alone._ Scary red eyes glowed from the darkness of the cabin, and she could hear its footsteps as it padded out towards them from inside. It growled as it walked closer, and the first thing she saw were the _reeeally_ big, canine teeth. Followed by the rest of its wolf-like body. Two words popped into her head right then.

Beowulf. _Grimm._

Ruby was still sleeping, happily snuggled up in the red cloak their mom had given her for her birthday; but Yang was _terrified_.

Fear froze her in her tracks as the Grimm came closer. She couldn't do anything but watch, her arms and legs too tired to take Ruby and run somewhere safe. And the Beowulf looked _hungry_.

' _I'm sorry, Ruby.'_

It growled even louder and tensed up on its hind legs. Right when Yang was about to close her eyes and it was about to pounce…

*boink*

A stick came flying out of nowhere and hit the grimm on the snout.

Yang blinked in confusion. _'What…?'_

The grimm paused in confusion too. It looked like it couldn't figure out what had just happened…. Until another stick flew out and hit it in the snout again.

*boink*

As the stick hit the ground, Yang and the Beowulf both turned to look at the direction that the sticks had come from.

Right there, not too far away, was a little kid that looked around Ruby's age. He had on a torn, green t-shirt and tattered, brown pants. He had reddish-orange hair, with 2 small tufts sticking out _which she could've sworn moved!_

Yang saw the little boy wave at her, and then turn to the Beowulf and stick out his tongue at it.

Even though it was just some kind of monster, it clearly understood that it was being insulted. It _ROARED_ in anger and stood up on its hindlegs. Somehow Yang managed to fight her fear long enough to yell out a warning.

"RUN!"

The 3 year old boy didn't listen to her at all as he kept on taunting the Beowulf. Whatever he was trying to do was clearly working, as the grimm was so mad that it charged straight at him! The boy in the ripped brown shirt didn't even flinch as it got closer. She'd even say that it looked like he was actually _glaring_ at it.

Yang didn't know what to do. The blonde-haired girl tried to stand up, but only got half-way before she fell back down again.

' _I gotta do something! I gotta do somethi-'_ Her thought was cut off as she saw something flash out of the boy's eyes and the grimm did something she never thought would happen.

It _froze_.

The reddish-orange haired boy looked like he was just _inches_ away from the Beowulf's claws, but he didn't look scared at all! The grimm stood there like a statue and the boy in tattered brown pants walked around it like it didn't even exist, before walking towards her.

He stood in front of her and held out a hand to help her out. She took it, and with his help she was finally able to stand up again. The orange-haired boy grinned, and she noticed something cool. His eyes were silver like her sister's! Not only that, but he was a _faunus!_ Those 2 tufts on top of his head that she thought was part of his hair, were _fox ears!_ He even had a cute little tail too!

"Thanks for helping us." She said to him, smiling. It felt a little weird thanking someone that was Ruby's age, but she decided that she didn't mind. "My name's Yang. What's yours?"

The boy tilted his head and gave her a confused look.

"So…. are you gonna say anything?"

He shook his head.

Before she could ask him any more questions, they heard more growls sound out. This time though, it came from all around them.

That was when 4 more Beowolves and an Ursa came out from the trees.

As soon as he saw them, the little faunus scrunched up his face and glared at them. This time though, the grimm didn't freeze. They just kept coming.

Closer.

And Closer.

His face paled, and his eyes started to go wide with fear. His little orange fox ears flattened on his head, and his tail curled up around him.

It was the first time Yang saw him be afraid of anything. Seeing him start to shake, she felt something for him. It was the same feeling that she got when Ruby started to get scared at night. Her whole body hurt from being too tired, but she still managed to step up and pull him behind her.

She didn't know what she could do, but she wasn't going to let them hurt him.

So she stood up as tall as her 5 year old body could, and she _glared_ at them just like he had. That's when they all _froze._

Before they fell down and started to disappear into black smoke.

Yang was shocked and happy at the same time!

' _Did I do that?'_ She thought to herself. Right before a voice from behind the Grimm sounded out.

"Yang Xiao-Long," The voice thundered out as the smoke evaporated, revealing a man with slicked-back black hair, red eyes, and a scythe that was taller than he was. He wore black slacks and a grey button-down shirt that was lighter on the sleeves. A tattered red cape fluttered in the small breeze. "Little lady, you are in _SO_ much trouble right now."

There was a serious frown on his face, where a laid-back expression was normally plastered.

As he walked forward, he noted the situation before him. A Beowulf stood frozen nearby, claws outstretched and ready to rip into someone.

' _Did Ruby awaken her silver eyes? No, wait…'_ His eyes flickered back to the little wagon, where Yang, Ruby and another kid were standing. _'Ruby's still asleep, and there's no chance that Yang could do something like this. Which means…'_

He walked forward, past the blonde little girl that he'd come looking for and stood over the orange-haired fox faunus. Looking down into his eyes, he found his suspicions were correct.

The kid had silver eyes.

"Hey. Kid. What's your name?" He asked as he leaned kid's green shirt was ripped in more than a few places, and his brown pants were already beyond tattered. _'Doesn't look like he's been around people for awhile. Survivor of a somewhat recent Grimm attack, maybe?'_

The kid backed away quickly, his ears still pressed flat against his head and his tail still curled around him defensively. If he had any doubts about who'd held off the Grimm long enough for him to get here, he wouldn't have any now. Fox-kid's eyes were flashing out white aura intermittently, with a terrified look on his face.

' _Guess he still doesn't have full control over his power yet. I should still let Oz know about thi-'_ His train of thought was interrupted as his five year old niece got in-between him and the 3 year old fox faunus.

"Uncle Qrow! You're scaring him!" She turned around to look at the boy that was shaking with fear. She walked slowly towards and took his hand in hers. "It's okay." She said softly. "Don't be scared. He's my uncle. He looks scary, but he's really, _really_ nice." She soothed. The boy's shivering slowly came to a stop as she spoke, but it was clear that he didn't understand what she was saying from the look of confusion on his face.

Qrow blinked. Looks like his niece was getting really protective over the kid. He'd only seen her act like this when Ruby was involved.

' _Hm.'_ Qrow thought as he looked himself over. _'Guess I really might look scary after all, since I've got my scythe out.'_ His scythe collapsed back into its sword form as he put it away. Although he almost tripped when he heard his niece say,

"-but he smells bad a lot since he keeps drinking all of daddy's adult juice."

Deciding to ignore that last comment, he turned his niece around to face him again.

"Little lady, you are still in _BIG_ trouble for all this." His gaze softened though when he noticed that she was shaking from exhaustion. "Go rest up in the wagon with your sister. We're going back home."

"But what about him?" She asked as she gestured towards the little fox faunus that was looking towards them. Qrow took a look at the 3 year old fox faunus that was hiding behind Yang. "Alright," He sighed. "He can come too. But only until we find his parents."

Qrow was taken aback a bit as Yang hugged him. "Thank you so much, Uncle Qrow." She whispered. He felt wet spots where eyes were pressed up against his shirt. _'Kid must've been more scared than I thought.'_

He wrapped his arms around her. "Anytime, kid." Then he ruffled her hair and watched her eyes flare up in anger before exhaustion set in. She turned around and took the fox kid's hand and went to go sit in the wagon.

As he started pulling the red wagon back to their house, he felt glad for 2 things.

The first thing he was glad of, was the fact that Winter Schnee wasn't anywhere near to see him pulling a little red wagon.

The second thing he was glad of, was that Ruby had talked Tai into buying the bigger size kid's wagon.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Hope you enjoyed the start to the story! Originally I wanted to make the OC (Fox-Faunus Kid) to save Yang and Ruby in a much cooler way, but...**

 **the kid's 3 years old. There's absolutely no way to make it seem realistic for the kid to pull off any kind of fancy move to save people. So I decided to make it because of the Silver Eyes super-power. There's almost no info on how the power works yet (the 5th season of RWBY hasn't started yet), so I took some liberties with it and gave it to a 3 year old kid. Plus, since he doesn't have full control over it yet, it's somewhat more realistic that the kid relied on it to save people than if he actually had skills.**

 **So, was it believable to you as the reader though?**

 **Also, in the part before Qrow came in, I tried to make it sound more child-like and word it as I thought a kid might say everything. Let me know if you think it worked. Actually, just let me know if you have any constructive criticism whatsoever ;)**

 **Always glad to have feedback from people.**

 **P.S. I didn't proofread this chapter or have it checked/edited. Definitely let me know if you see something wrong.**


	3. Prologue 2

**Author's Note: I'm a little surprised. I was actually aiming for around 2,000 words for this chapter, but ended up with almost 4,000. Anyway, a big shout-out to the people that reviewed! I've also got comments for ya as well.**

 **Shepherd239: Thanks. I thought that comment with the little red wagon from last chapter was spot-on with Qrow's personality**

 **DennyIsMenece, Cy, Guest, and 14: Thanks for taking the time to tell me that you liked the story! I was pleasantly surprised that people liked it and wanted to read the next chapter. Well, you asked for the next chapter, and here it is!**

* * *

Prologue Part 2:

Qrow looked up at the large, 2-story log house. It was situated near the outskirts of a forest, where it could still be surrounded by trees and nature, yet still not be too far off from the nearest village. He'd made it back in less than half the time that Yang and Ruby had been missing for. Speaking of which...

He turned his head to look at the kids in the wagon he'd been pulling. All three of them were fast asleep, with 5 year old Yang in the middle. She had a 3 year old snuggled up under each of her arms, Ruby on one side with her cloak wrapped around her, and the fox faunus on the other. His tail was wrapped around his body, trying to make up for the lack of warmth that his mostly shredded clothes provided.

A cool breeze whistled by, and the kid shivered. Yang, somehow sensing his discomfort, drew him closer to her. The fox faunus' face loosened and relaxed into a small smile as Yang's warmth offset the cold from the breeze. He wasn't the only one that looked happy though. The blonde-haired 5 year old looked like she was in heaven with the 2 other little kids snuggled up to her.

Qrow sighed, and turned back to face the log house. _'This day could've had a different ending.'_ He thought to himself. _'Yang would've been the first to face the Beowulf's assault. Ruby might not have survived much longer than Yang. I might not have made it in time if it weren't for that little fox.'_

He would never have been able to forgive himself if he'd had to drag back their little bodies back with him.

Thoughts of what might've happened if he'd found them just a few seconds later flew unbidden into his mind. Every scene was worse than the last, and he felt an icy heat start to burn in his chest as he looked towards the log house.

He'd tried to give Tai some time to grieve after Summer died. He'd _tried_ to give him some space to mourn.

But this had gone on for _**long enough**_. Yang and Ruby _**HAD ALMOST DIED!**_

Qrow strode towards the log house's front door. Before he got close enough to open it, the door practically slammed open as a blonde-haired man with a shoulder pauldron burst out of the house.

"Qrow!" The man shouted as he saw him, his voice full of desperation. His eyes stared into Qrow's, a silent question was reflected in them. One that was answered when he took in the little red wagon and its sleeping inhabitants that were behind the gray-shirted man. The blonde-haired man's shoulders sagged with relief. "Oh thank God!"

The man turned to face the gray-shirted scythe wielder. "Qrow, I can't thank you enough for-"

* **WHAM!***

His words were cut off as Qrow's fist hit his face dead on with a sickening *crunch* as the man was knocked flat onto his back. His nose was practically flattened from the hit.

Qrow's tattered, red cape rippled in the slight breeze as he looked down at the man who he'd knocked down. "Shut. Up." The blonde man was too shocked to say anything as Qrow continued. "I'm _glad_ that Summer's not here to see this. The man she married is so absorbed in his own self-pity that he doesn't notice that his daughters left. That he doesn't notice when his daughters go traipsing through a forest _**AND ALMOST GET EATEN BY GRIMM!**_ "

Qrow was practically shouting now as he looked down at the man. His friend. His brother-in-law. His former teammate.

And also the man who almost let his daughters get killed.

The man looked ashamed of himself. "I-". The sound of crying coming from the wagon broke the tension between them. _'Dammit,'_ Qrow thought. _'Must've woken Ruby up from that long nap of hers.'_ Looking behind him, he saw that Ruby was sitting up, watching the two of them argue. _'How much of that did she see?'_

The man on the floor got up as his aura straightened out his nose with a slight *pop*. He moved towards the little red wagon, his dragon tattoo visible in the sunlight beaming down in front of the house. Before he could take more than a step forward, Qrow moved between him and the kids, blocking him. "We're NOT done here, Tai. Not by a longshot." He said, softly enough that Ruby wouldn't hear.

Tai just nodded his head.

Qrow had a look on his face that said he wasn't satisfied, but he said nothing. He pulled the wagon through the door and into the house, before the two of them put the kids in their separate rooms. It took some coaxing, but Ruby eventually went back to sleep. The only odd one out was the kid fox, who Qrow decided to lay down on a 3-seater couch in the living room.

Tai had a questioning look on his face, but held his silence as Qrow made sure the 3 year old fox was comfortable before they both left for the kitchen.

* * *

There was a long silence as the 2 men stood on opposite sides of the kitchen.

Qrow's sword lay on top of the dining table, the same one that he was leaning against now. His arms were crossed, and despite the angry look on his face, his posture was still relaxed. The icy heat in his chest had calmed down somewhat after putting the kids to bed, but he still didn't trust himself to speak yet. There was a reason why he made sure not to have his weapon on his person after all.

Tai stood there against the countertop, facing away from Qrow. His brown, button-shirt was full of creases. His blonde hair was a mess, and he a slumped posture. If anyone from his past could see him now, they'd be disappointed at the sight of the former member of Team STRQ. The once cheerful and happy-go-lucky man was reduced to a pathetic drunk hiding in his own house. His face betrayed the shame he felt as Tai turned to look at the man who'd saved his daughters.

Scenes from the past flew through his mind of the glory days from when they'd all still been at Beacon. From Initiation Day when they'd all been put together under Summer as Team STRQ, to the last time they'd all shared a table together after a hunt, and to the time when he and Raven had finally gotten married.

He'd thought things were going _so well_. Raven had given birth to Yang, and the world seemed like a brighter place every day.

….And then she'd left.

It'd taken a long time for him to come to terms with it, but eventually he had. She'd left, and there was nothing that he could do about it. He'd tried to get past it, and for Yang's sake he did. Then came the nights with Summer, and before he knew it, he'd fallen in love all over again.

Yang never knew that she'd had a different mother than Ruby, and he was determined to make sure that it stayed that way. It helped that Summer always saw Yang as her kid, just as much as Ruby was. He'd gotten another chance at this. A chance to make things right. To make sure that he was the _damn best_ husband and dad that he could be. This time, he wouldn't give his wife _any_ reason to leave their family at all.

….And then she died.

Just thinking about the fact that Summer was dead, reopened that hole in his chest all over again. That suffocating despair that kept trying to drown him and drag him under, the one that whispered to him at night. Whispers of a loaded gun against his head-

The touch of cold steel against his neck snapped him out of his thoughts as Qrow's furious eyes stared into his own. Tai broke out into a cold sweat as he felt the edge of the blade nick his throat slightly. He knew there was no way Qrow would kill him, but he'd also never seen him this mad in his whole life.

Tai _sloowly_ tried to move his head away from the blade. "Qrow?" He asked, more than slightly worried for his life at the moment. "What's going on here?" He asked slowly.

Qrow's eyes only grew more furious at the question, and more than once Tai could have sworn that the man was seriously debating whether or not to kill him at that moment. Tai decided that maybe it was a good time to keep quiet, since it looked like anything he said would just make Qrow even angrier.

A few moments later, Qrow finally spoke. And for once, he sounded perfectly sober. "I know that look in your eyes." He said, as his sword decided to move a centimeter closer to Tai's neck. The 1 centimeter that Tai had managed to gain by putting his head at an uncomfortable angle, trying to get away from Qrow's blade. "I've seen in it in more Hunters than I've ever wanted to. You're thinking about it, aren't you?" There was a heated accusation in that tone that made Tai uncomfortable.

"Qrow, I don't understa-"

"You're thinking about killing yourself." Qrow interrupted. "And it's probably not the first time, either. How were you going to do it?" He accused with a glare. "Gonna make a noose and hang yourself with it when no one's home? A bullet to the brain?"

Tai flinched when he mentioned the bullet to the brain.

Qrow knew he'd struck a nerve. "Just like I thought. You ARE thinking about it." It was all the proof that the gray-shirted man needed. Qrow felt _RAGE_ as his anger flared!

 **This was the man that let his kids run into a forest and almost get eaten by Beowulves!**

 **This was the man who'd stayed at home instead of going out and searching for his kids!**

 **THIS WAS-**

Qrow backed the sword away from Tai's neck and sheathed it behind him with a *click*. Just like a firework that had flared, his anger burnt itself out into small little embers. There was only a confused look on Tai's face as he saw Qrow back off. Tai couldn't understand why Qrow was seemingly letting him off the hook, but the gray-shirted drunk definitely had his reasons.

Because this was the man that his nieces would miss.

This was the man who'd been a brother to him for half his life, even before he'd married his sister, Raven.

This was the man who Summer had fallen in love with, and ultimately part of the family that she'd almost certainly been thinking of when she died.

Qrow looked at Tai and only felt sadness for the man that he _had_ been. His disheveled hair and dirty, wrinkled clothes only highlighted the defeated posture he had. His whole face seemed like it's default expression was utter sadness.

Qrow leaned back against the table as he closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and let it out. It felt like whatever sparks of anger were left in him had flowed out alongside his breath. When he opened his eyes, he realized what it was that he needed to do. For his nieces' sakes, for Summer's sake, and for the man that Tai _used_ to be, Qrow would make sure that Tai became the man would be even _better_ than the man that he was before.

He sighed as he looked at the messy, blonde-haired man. There was a lot of work that had to be done.

' _Guess I better start with what almost happened to Yang and Ruby.'_ He thought to himself.

-3 hours later-

The sun had set about an hour and a half ago, leaving the 2 story log house under the soft light of a shattered moon. Tai sighed as Qrow finished up the last of his story. Hearing what had almost happened to his daughters while he'd been too busy drowning in self-pity hadn't been easy.

But the whispers had stopped, at least for now. Tai _knew_ , for the first time in what seemed like a long time, that he _had_ to do better. To _BE_ better.

Looking down at himself, it was like he could finally see what everyone else had been seeing for such a long time. A man that didn't even have the energy to dress properly, was too depressed to wash up on a regular basis, and God knows _what_ else.

He could only imagine what his daughters thought of him now.

There was something that he felt down to his bones just by thinking about what they might think about every time they saw him.

 _Shame._

It wasn't going to be easy, but there was _NO WAY_ he was going to take the easy way out. He was going to be THE. BEST. FATHER that he could be.

No more excuses.

And as he gave himself a whiff, he realized something else. _'Oh god, DEFINITELY no more alcohol. Maybe I'll just let Qrow keep sneaking it out till all the stash is gone.'_ He also didn't want to imagine what might happen if one of his kids followed him to where he kept his 'adult juice' and got curious about what it tasted like.

He shuddered at the thought of Ruby drinking from one of his hidden flasks.

There was no more hesitation. The stash had to go.

If Qrow wanted it, he could have it.

But first, he had there was something Qrow hadn't told him about, yet. He looked across the table that they'd both ended up sitting at sometime when Qrow had been telling him the story.

"So, what's with the kid?" He asked Qrow. The man looked a little tense and uncomfortable as the topic finally breached the thing he'd been slightly avoiding for the past few hours. It wasn't because he thought that it wasn't important, or because he didn't want to talk about it. Qrow just didn't know a good way to start _that_ particular part of the story. Now that Tai had asked, though, he could finally say something about it.

"Kid saved their lives." Qrow could see the confusion on Tai's face as he tried to process what he'd just said. "Look," Qrow began as he pulled out a flask that he'd secretly stolen from Tai's stash. "It was a Beowulf. An Alpha from the looks of it. It got to them before I did and was about to-" He grimaced at the thought of what might've happened at that point. "-anyway, it didn't happen. Kid distracted the Beowulf and took care of it. I showed up and dealt with the 4 that popped up soon after."

Tai had an eyebrow arched in disbelief. _'A 3 year old kid took care of an Alpha Beowulf? Even students at the hunter academies would've had trouble dealing with it.'_ Qrow caught the look on his face and said something even more unbelievable.

"Kid's got silver eyes. Still can't control it for the most part, but it was enough to keep the Beowulf frozen until I got there."

Tai leaned back into his chair as he tried to let the shock of what Qrow just said pass over him. He knew about the legend of the silver-eyed warriors. He even knew first-hand that the legend was true, since Summer had been one of the ones that had been able to use its power. But to hear that a kid _Ruby's_ age had somehow activated it? And was even _slightly_ able to control it?

That was mind-blowing.

It's not everyday that you find out that a 3 year old kid had a grasp on a power that was deadly to the deadliest things on the planet.

Tai took in a deep breath as he tried to wrap his around it all.

Once he was sure that he was done freaking out internally at the thought of a 3 year old with powers from legend, he looked up at Qrow. "So, where'd he come from? Did you find his parents?"

"He's a survivor." Qrow replied. "You saw the scars on his neck?" Tai nodded. He'd seen the scars when Qrow had lain the kid down on the couch. It wasn't really visible, at least until the fox kid's head had been turned up at a certain angle.

Thinking about those scars sent him down somewhere _dark_. For something like that to happen to a kid as young as Ruby? It stirred up something too intense to just be called anger. _'To still be alive after something like that, he must've had his aura unlocked. He wouldn't have had much aura to begin with at that young of an age, but it should've done the trick. If he still has the scar, then that means…'_

It meant that whatever it'd been _before_ , was so bad that aura couldn't fix it all while still keeping him alive. It meant that the kid would probably never be able to speak again. He'd have to grow up, never being able to talk.

He was so caught up in thinking about it, that he almost missed what Qrow said next. "And yeah. I found the parents on the way back here." Qrow said darkly.

"Oh." It was the only thing that Tai could say. Qrow didn't need to say anything else. Since the kid was currently sleeping on his couch, that meant one of 2 things. He was either abandoned. Or the parents were dead. And judging by the scars on the kid's neck, it was probably the latter.

"Grimm?" Tai asked.

"No. Hunter." Was the reply that he got back before Qrow tilted his flask and drank _deeply_.

Tai didn't even need to ask why. After all, the kid was a faunus. His parents were probably both faunus too. He wished that he didn't live in a world where this stuff happened, but if wishes came true then Summer would still be alive.

"So…" Tai said slowly. "What do we do now?"

Qrow had a funny look on his face that made Tai think that _maybe_ he'd drunk a little too much. Or not enough. It was definitely one of the 2.

"You know…" Qrow began. "Yang's practically adopted the kid into the family already. You should've seen the way that she stood up to the 4 beowulves _AND_ me when she thought that he was scared."

' _Oh no.'_ Tai thought. He wasn't an idiot. He could _definitely_ see where this conversation was going. Qrow caught the look on his face as his eyebrows scrunched up.

Qrow put down his flask. "Hear me out." Qrow put his fist up and then unfurled his index finger. "One: he's got no one else." He then unfurled his second finger. "Two: He saved Yang and Ruby's life." Then he unfurled his third finger. "Three: I can't do it. You know the kind of work I do for Oz. That's not something a kid should grow up with."

Tai put his head in his hands and groaned. Qrow had a point.

Actually, he had _3_ points.

It wasn't that Tai didn't want to adopt the kid, but it was just that he already had 2. He'd already screwed up and it almost cost them their _lives!_ There was no telling what would happen if he got a third.

"Tai, look at me." The blonde-haired man looked up at the person that had been a brother to him for what was practically half his life. And that was _before_ he'd married Qrow's sister, Raven.

"It's gonna be different this time. I'll be around more often. _You're not alone in this_." Qrow put an emphasis on those last words. "Besides, it'll be easy to do. The kid and Ruby are still too young to remember much, if anything at all. We could probably have Oz whip up any legal documents we need. Really, the only thing you might have to do is tell Yang to keep it all a secret, since she's the only one out of the three that's old enough to remember all of this."

Before Tai could answer him, someone else asked a question. "What did you need to tell me, Dad?" Yang asked, yawning as she walked into the kitchen. "Sorry, I didn't hear everything just now. What's up?"

Qrow and Tai shared a look as Yang climbed up and sat on her Dad's lap. Tai started slowly brushing her hair with his hands, and she leaned back towards him closed her eyes. Normally she would've been mad that somebody was touching her hair, but Qrow and Tai could both tell from the smile on her face that she was enjoying it this time. _'She probably just needed some comfort after everything that's happened today.'_ Tai thought to himself.

"Hey, little dragon." Tai whispered into her ear. "How would you feel if the boy that came back with you became part of the family?"

"REEALLY?!" She turned to look at her dad excitedly. Tai could tell from the sparkling look in her velvet eyes that there was only one answer that he could give. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Qrow smirking. Yang didn't know it, but she could be just as cute as Ruby when she tried.

Honestly though, he'd be a little sad when she finally grew out of this stage.

"Yeah, really." She beamed up at him before he held up a finger. "But!" He said, before she got too happy. "You have to promise me something."

"Anything Dad!"

"You can't tell _ANYONE_ that he wasn't from our family before today. Ok? Deal?" He asked.

"DEAL!" She shouted happily.

Qrow and Tai chuckled at how happy it'd made her. _'Looks like Qrow wasn't kidding when he said she'd already practically adopted him into the family.'_ Tai thought. _'Well,'_ He figured. _'I guess it's not such a bad thing.'_

Unfortunately, Qrow interrupted the happy moment. "What should we call him though? I doubt that he can remember whatever name he had before. Not after what he's been through."

Tai frowned at the mention of what had happened and tried to signal Qrow. He didn't want Yang to pry any deeper into the kid's situation.

He shouldn't have worried though. Yang was still hard at thought, trying to come up with a name for the boy that'd saved her and Ruby. "How about….Kit?" She offered.

Qrow and Tai both stared at the 5 year old blonde sitting on her Dad's lap. "How'd you come up with Kit, firecracker?" Qrow asked.

"Because he's like a kitsune, so he's Kit!" She declared with her hands on her hips.

The blonde-haired man looked at the black-haired man, before they both _ROARED_ with laughter! "HAHAHAHAHA! Oh my god, you are _so_ right, little dragon. Ok, so from today onwards, the boy is Kit Xiao-Long!"

After they'd managed to stop laughing and send Yang off to bed again, there was a peaceful sort of quietness in the kitchen. Qrow looked at Tai and felt like he was already starting to see his old friend again. Tai wasn't slouched in defeat, and even though he was still wearing the same wrinkled clothing, there was a certain look in his eye that drew you away from his messy look.

…. That's when another problem popped into Qrow's head.

"So… what'll we tell Ruby, Kit and anyone else that asks?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **That's a great question, Qrow! It's something I'll let the readers decide when they review this chapter! There's 2 choices that I've got for all of you readers out there.**

 **A) Kit will end up as a year younger than Ruby**

 **(although he'll still be 3 years old physically, everyone except for Yang, Qrow and Tai will think that he's 2)**

 **B) He's Ruby's fraternal twin.**

 **(Fraternal twins are kids born from the same mom on the same day, so it'll explain why he's the same age as her. Also, fraternal twins don't look the same.)**

 **Remember, this will be what Qrow and Tai will be telling everybody from this point on, so choose wisely. You can vote by just announcing your opinion in the reviews (because I don't know how else to let you tell me your choices).**

 **Same as before, this chapter wasn't edited or proofread so let me know if you see anything wrong, and always let me know what you think of the story.**

 **P.S., I'm looking for a beta reader. Anybody have any suggestions on how I can find one?**


	4. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** **The votes have been cast, and it's now official! There were some pretty good and convincing arguments for both sides. I just wanted to go ahead and answer a few common questions that people have asked, before you start reading.**

 **To InfernoKnightmare: Sorry, but your idea seems a little too dark for just a made-up explanation on why Kit is a faunus. It might be an interesting backstory for Summer in another story though, so you _could_ always start one up based on that idea if you're interested.**

 **"Why aren't they being honest and just tell Kit that he's adopted?"**

 **-Parents who adopt kids at a young age (young enough not to remember their biological parents), don't normally tell the kids that they're adopted. I've got 2 cousins that are adopted, and they don't know about it. It's a huge family secret that a lot of people in the family know, except for them. It's just what happens, for differing reasons. As for what the reason is in _this_ case, I'll let you guys figure it out. I've already hinted about a possible reason, so I'm pretty sure some of you will get it. Everyone else will just have to wait and see if Kit ever finds out!**

 **"Tell Ruby about him being adopted. It'll cause problems in the future if she's not told"**

 **-Sorry, but she doesn't seem like she'd be able to keep a secret very well in Canon, let alone a _much_ younger Ruby in this fanfic. Besides, problems are what make stories fun to read, since it moves the plot forward.**

 **"if i remember correctly most groups discussing Human Faunus relations usually conclude that Human DNA would over right Faunus DNA"**

 **-I don't remember seeing that discussion in the anime. Mind sending me a source, just to sate my curiosity?**

 **Just a couple last things I wanted to say. This chapter is going to be pretty light-hearted and childish, mainly just so that everyone can kinda get used to the whole relationship the 3 siblings have together (plus, reading this kind of stuff makes you more attached to the characters).**

 **This is the 1st chapter in the Primary School Arc that I'll be doing, which is going to be short and last around 2-3 more chapters after this one.**

* * *

' _Pleeeeeease?_ '

Ruby looked at her 6 year old little brother, who was giving her the cutest little pout ever. ' _It's not fair that he's got those fox ears!'_ She thought to herself a little jealously. ' _It adds like, MEGA-Levels of cuteness to him!'_

She looked at the cookie in her hand, and then looked at her younger twin brother ( _2 minutes older still counts!_ ). She felt really torn between the two. _On one hand_ , **IT WAS A COOKIE!** (She told herself that she'd never let Yang know that she'd made that pun, because her sister would _NEVER_ let her live it down). Little bites of delicious wrapped around gooey bits of chocolate!

 _AND IT WAS THE LAST ONE!_

On the other hand, _her little bro was just SO CUTE!_

As she looked into his pleading silver eyes, she could already start to feel herself losing. ' _Must... Resist... Cuteness.'_ Alarms were already ringing in her head, sirens were blaring as Kit's pouty eyes stared into hers. Finally, she just couldn't take it anymore!

She turned her head in the other direction with her free hand covering her eyes….. And the hand with the cookie held out to her twin. In less than a split-second, she felt the cookie disappear from her hand. Something told her that it'd be eaten before she could even look back at Kit.

She sighed, just a _little_ bit sad. It was the last cookie, too! There was the sound of someone loudly laughing in the background, and Ruby didn't even need to turn around to know that her big sister Yang was the one laughing her head off.

"HAHAHAHA! Oh my Oum, **HAHAHA**!." Yang was laughing so hard that she was clutching her stomach as she saw _Ruby_ of all people get taken down by a pout! Somehow, she managed to stop laughing as she straightened up. A stray tear fell from her eye, only to be wiped away by her hand.

Ruby turned to look at her 8 year old sister. "Yang! It's not funny!" She pouted. That just seemed to set off her blonde-haired sister again, and this time Yang laughed so hard that she couldn't even stand up anymore. She fell backwards and landed flat on her butt practically roaring with laughter.

This just made Ruby feel even worse. Yang, seeing that Ruby looked like she was about to cry, quit laughing immediately. The 8 year old blonde felt bad for almost making her little sister cry, but _it was just SO FUNNY._

Still, she was the big sister after all. Yang knew she had to be the "ma-choor" one, like her dad always said. So she got up, stepped forward and gave her little sister the _best_ hug she could give. "Sorry, Ruby. I know I shouldn't have laughed." She said.

"It's ok." Ruby mumbled into her sister's ear. It's not like she was actually mad or anything.

As they both pulled away from each other, Yang suddenly grinned. "So… how does it feel to be on the other side of the pout, hmm?"

Ruby could feel her ears turn red as she blushed in embarrassment. "I, I-" She managed to stammer out before turning away from her sister. "I don't know what you're talking about." Before Ruby could say anything else in her defense, she suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around her from the front.

Kit looked up at his twin sister and tried to pass on what he wanted to say with his eyes. **Ruby was one of the best sisters ever!** (But he still didn't think that she was the older one, because _2 minutes didn't count!_ )

Kit was 2 inches shorter than his fraternal twin, which was actually one of the biggest reasons why everyone in the family saw him as the youngest. It's also the reason why he had to tilt his head up to look Ruby in the eyes to pass on what he wanted to say.

Ruby suddenly felt glad that she gave him the cookie. It was just a cookie, but he was her little brother after all. (Even if he wouldn't admit it 2 minutes _did_ count, plus she was taller!). He couldn't say it out loud, but she could tell what he was trying to say just by looking at his eyes.

She returned his hug with her own. The black-haired girl didn't know why she always knew what he was thinking, but she thought it might be because of that thing that people kept saying twins had. That twin tele-, tele-...tele-thingy. She couldn't help but smile as she looked down at her orange-haired brother.

Really! He was _such_ a hugger. ( _But she kinda didn't mind since he was so cute with his fox ears. And that little tail!)_

"Kit," She said to him. "It was just a cookie. It's not that big of a deal!"

Kit just smiled at her knowingly. He of all people knew that cookies were a BIG DEAL. Anyone else that asked probably would've had to fight tooth and nail to get it away from his sister.

But it was the same for him too. Everyone in the family knew. _You don't snatch cookies away from the twins!_

"Hey! We're family, you guys don't get to cut me out of this!" That was the only warning they got before a certain blonde-haired 8 year old girl jumped in, arms wrapping around both Ruby and Kit.

' _Hah! It's cute that they think they got the last cookies. I've still got two more in my pocke-'_ Suddenly, she realized that her pocket felt a little _too_ light. Almost as if…

She turned to look at her two younger siblings and just managed to see the last bits of _**her**_ cookies disappearing into their mouths.

"RUUUUBY! KIIIIIT!" She said slowly. Her black-haired and orange-haired kid sister and brother gave her playful, innocent looks. The way they looked at her cutely said, ' _Yes, Big Sis?'_ with wide eyes.

' _Oh, Yang it.'_ She thought to herself, not missing the chance for a pun, even in her own thoughts. She knew she couldn't hold it against them when they looked at her like that. ' _Should've known I can't hide that stuff from them.'_ After all, when it came to cookies, she could never stop the terror of the twin cookie monsters.

Good thing she didn't have any of the _other_ stuff. People thought her little bro and sis went crazy for cookies, but they still didn't know the _nightmare_ that happened whenever they got a hint that some of the _other stuff_ was nearby. Still, she couldn't just let them off with taking _**her**_ cookies. The blonde-haired little dragon had to keep up her rep as big sis, after all.

A lightbulb went off in her head.

"Oh you're gonna get it now!" Yang said, an evil grin slowly spreading on her face. Ruby and Kit turned to each other as fear slowly spread on their faces. Their big sis was _**scary**_ when she was mad. They quickly looked back at Yang and started to pout apologetically with wide eyes and quivering lips. "Oh, so you wanna say sorry now, huh?!" The two nodded their heads yes. "Well it's too late! You're BOTH getting it now!" As their big sis, Yang had already seen enough of their pouts to build up a small immunity to it. Without another word, she started her attack.

TICKLES!

' _NOOOOO!'_ That was the last thought Ruby and Kit had before their heads went white. Their sister had used their super-ultra-mega weakness against them!

Giggling and laughing, they suddenly couldn't keep standing straight and they all tumbled down to the ground with a *plop*. Ruby and Yang were giggling, while Kit laughed in his own little way. His lips moved and his face showed that he was laughing, but nothing came out of his mouth.

Kit didn't know why, but as far as he remembered, he was never able to say anything. Maybe it had something to do with the scars on his neck? Still, the fact that he couldn't say anything never got to him. He could still "talk" to people with Valean Sign Language (VSL), and Ruby almost never needed him to even use it to know what he wanted to say anyway.

The happy siblings were still on the ground laughing when suddenly someone standing behind them cleared their throat.

" **Ahem!"**

"Eeep!" Yang and Ruby yelped in surprise when they realized that someone was standing above them with a strict look on her face. Kit was surprised too, but obviously he couldn't make a sound.

Their teacher stood above them with her arms crossed, one of her fingers tapping impatiently against her arm. Her long red hair was tied up in a ponytail, and it only served to make her face _THAT_ much scarier as she looked down on the 3 siblings who were still sprawled on the ground.

A glare from her quickly got the 3 of them quickly scrambling to stand up straight as she asked in a low voice, "Are we _done_ here?" Kit's tail curled up defensively around him at her tone as he looked down at the floor. Ruby took a small step forward protectively in-between her little bro and the strict lady with the ponytail. "Sorry, Teacher. We won't do it again." Ruby gave her best "sorry-face pout".

The teacher sighed and massaged her forehead with her hand in frustration. Looking down at the 3 kids only served to make her even _more_ irritated. She knew she could never get too strict or stern with these kids when Ruby pulled out her pouty face. She was a teacher for crying out loud! She couldn't show any favoritism! But somehow, when it came to Ruby, there was never a doubt in the ponytailed teacher's head that she wouldn't be able to do much against her. Even _if_ the other two kids were a _faunus_ and a _troublemaker_.

And that made her all the more frustrated.

Her frown slowly wilting against the mysterious powers of a kid's pout, she sighed once again. "Just… Go back to your seats. Lunchtime is over. And _DON'T_ play around with food next time."

Ruby nodded her head and walked with Kit back to their seats as Kit sent her a thankful look. She and Yang were always standing up for him. ' _She really is one of the best sisters ever!'_ He thought happily. ' _But she's still NOT older than me.'_ Kit would never admit it, no matter what. They were twins, so that meant they were _always_ going to be the same age, right?

Ruby giggled as she looked at his eyes and caught those last two thoughts. Her little brother was really silly. _Of course_ she'd always stand up for him. She was the older one after all, she thought smugly to herself.

" _Ooh~_! You guys got in _trouble~!_ " One of the other kids sang out. There were 3 big, round tables with 5 chairs at each one. The table that Ruby and her brother were walking to had a boy and a girl sitting there, with 3 empty chairs at the table next to them.

*Smack*

"Ow! Aqua, what was _that_ for?" A black-haired 6 year old boy asked, rubbing his throbbing arm. His blue eyes looked at her green ones, confused.

The girl with green eyes gave him a ' _look'_. "That's for being mean, Ash!" She said before she turned to look at Ruby and Kit, her blue hair rippling as she turned. "Are you guys ok? Was Teacher mad?" Aqua asked her friends worriedly.

" _Yeah, she was_ _ **really, really**_ _mad. But Ruby said sorry for us, and she just told us to go back to our chairs."_ Kit signed.

Aqua blinked. Her VSL wasn't all that good, so it took her a little longer to figure out what he was saying. Before she could, though, Ash piped up.

" _What?!_ Man, that's lame." The black-haired boy complained, while Aqua sent him a jealous look when he was able to understand Kit faster than she could. "When _I_ did something bad at lunchtime, Teacher made sit in the corner for a time-out. How come she won't let _me_ get away with stuff like you guys?"

"Uh, cuz you're not a girl, _duh_." Aqua said with all the confidence of a 7 year old. She was sure that what she just said made complete sense, and Ruby nodded along with her.

"But then why does Kit get-away with it?" Ash whined. "He's a boy too!"

Aqua rolled her eyes at him. "That's cuz he's _smart_ ," The fox ears on Kit's head perked up happily as she said it, but the look on his face changed to an annoyed expression when she continued. "He gets his big sister Ruby to say sorry for all of them."

" _Hey!"_ Kit signed, clearly annoyed as his hands jerked a little more forcefully than normally while he signed. " _Ruby's NOT older than me!"_

"Yes I am!" Ruby piped in. "2 WHOLE minutes older than you. Daddy and Uncle Qrow said so!"

Kit turned to look at his fraternal twin. " _2 minutes doesn't count!"_

"Yes it does!"

" _No it doesn't!"_

"Yes!"

" _No!"_

The other 2 kids at the table just looked at each other and nodded. They both decided to tune out the normal brother-sister fight that kept on happening every week or two, and started talking about the newest toy that had just come out.

All the other kids at the nearby tables didn't even turn their heads to look at Ruby and Kit, since they were already so used to it. Everyone just kept talking and having fun since the teacher was still in the back half of the room with Yang.

When Ruby and Kit had gone back to their seats, the ponytailed teacher had stopped their blonde-haired sister from joining them.

"A word, miss Xiao-Long."

Yang looked up at her teacher in confusion as the stern adult pulled her aside. "What's up, Teach?" The red-haired teacher pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose as she looked down at her student. "You _are_ the oldest among your siblings, am I correct?" The 8 year old nodded her head slowly, not understanding where her teacher was going with this.

"Simply put, you're going to need to rein in your younger siblings. _NOT_ join them in causing trouble in the future. I'm letting the three of you off with a warning this time, and _this time only_. If it happens again, your younger siblings will be taking the brunt of the punishment." The teacher warned.

Yang looked up at her, more confused than ever. "But if we all get in trouble, won't we _all_ get the same punishment?" The red-haired teacher shook her head. "No. _They_ will get the heaviest punishment of all. _Your_ punishment will be to watch them be sad because of it."

"But that's not fair!" Yang said, stomping her feet.

" _Life's_ not fair. I hope you'll never find out how true that is." The teacher said to her. "In _my_ classroom, you'll have to watch your brother and sister get put in the corner. Out _there_ ," The ponytailed woman said as she pointed in the direction of the classroom door, "you might have to watch as your younger siblings end up crying. Or worse, _hurt_."

Yang's face fell as she thought about her little bro and sis getting hurt out there because she got them in trouble, or didn't stop them from getting into it. Worse, she could actually picture it happening since it already almost happened once. Even now, she could still remember when that Beowolf had almost walked out of the cabin, and how she couldn't do anything but stand there knowing that anything she did at that point wouldn't have helped.

The blonde-haired 8 year old looked over at her little brother and sister who were sitting in their seats and happily playing around with each other. A small smile grew on her face as she looked at them, and she decided right then and there that she'd make sure that she'd take her teacher's words to heart. Looking back up at her strict teacher with the red ponytail, Yang nodded her head to show that she understood.

"I won't let them get into trouble again, Miss Winchester."

Yang felt like she could almost see a ghost of a smile on Ms. Winchester's stern face, before it quickly disappeared.

"Good. Now run along back to your seat. _It's about time we started our math session_." Miss Winchester raised her voice at that last part. The whole class groaned as they heard her plans.

"Yang, why couldn't you keep talking with Ms. Winchester _longer?!_ " One of Yang's friends loudly asked her. The whole class suddenly turned and looked in her direction, all of them waiting for an answer to the question they'd all been thinking.

She just shrugged as she walked back to her seat. "Sorry guys." She said with a wink.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **So there ya have it! Twins won the vote! (And although Kit would never admit it, Ruby _is_ the older one since they were told that she was born 2 minutes before Kit was).**

 **Thoughts? Opinions? Have any good suggestions on what could happen next?**

 **Did I pull off the whole, fraternal brother-sister thing well, or is there something I can do to make it better?**

 **Let me know your answers to any and all of these questions through your reviews!**


	5. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** So completely sorry I didn't update sooner! Long story short, life got complicated. Work wasn't giving me enough shifts, so I ran out of money for college, then college life got completely busy, etc.

Anyway, I'm back! And this time for good. Chapter 3 will be up in 1 week, I promise!

So, to answer the questions and comments of the readers from last chapter (if you're still reading this, that is):

 **Lelouch of Zero:** This was brilliantly done in my opinion and it was absolutely adorable. Interesting choice of teacher, I wonder if this is foreshadowing an encounter with a certainty bully. What I'm really looking forward to is seeing Kit's weapons and semblance, and even team placement. I know it's a ways off still, but I can't help getting excited with the setup you've got going.

-Well, I can't tell you anything about what might happen with a certain bully. Can't spoil anything after all. As far as Kit's weapons and semblance goes, you're free to offer suggestions!

 **Guest:** 1) How can Tai and Yang explain to Kit that he is a faunus while his supposed parents are both human? 2) Does he have a pairing or romantic interest in this story? 3) Which team will he go with when he arrives in Beacon? Is he going to be in a canon team or an oc team?

-Great questions! Well, in this fanfic, basically Kit thinks that his "mother" (Summer Rose) was a fox faunus like he is. If you think about it, she's always shown with her hood up, so she was basically always hiding it (it's plausible). **Kit will have a pairing/romance** , and you can vote on who it'll be with once I finish putting up a poll on my author page here on FF! **As far as the 3rd question goes, I can't say.** That would be spoiling ;)

 **Kyrogue23:** Yang should really defy that teacher and do something that will really prank her.

-Oh somebody's definitely getting pranked alright. As far as who it'll be, I make no guarantees. I did put a hint in this chapter though.

 **Happysausage:** i like where this story is going and i hope to see more. When kit gets older will he still be shorter than ruby? will kit have a girly boy body like nagisa from assassination classroom? is miss winchester related to cardin?

-Glad to hear you liked it! Sorry this chapter wasn't up sooner, but I hope you're still out there and will eventually read this. Anyway, I still haven't decided on whether or not he'll still be shorter than Ruby in the future (it's a possibility). However, he won't have a "girly boy" body. There's too many Kitsune stories out there like that, so it's definitely something I'm staying away from. That being said, he'll probably have something along the lines of Jaune's body type. Skinny/wiry, but definitely nowhere near as tall as Jaune actually is. Also, yes, Miss Winchester is related to Cardin. That's all I'll say for that right now, though.

 _ **Well, on with the story!**_

* * *

It was a bright and sunny day. Sounds of life were everywhere on the island of Patch. The birds sang and chirped in the forest alongside their woodland friends, the people in the small town went about their day with a smile, dogs barked happily and cats purred in contentment. Positivity thrummed and thrived, and there was so much of it that the Grimm cowered and ran back to whatever dark crevices that they came from with their tails between their legs.

Life was good, everyone was _beyond_ happy. There wasn't any particular reason for it, it was just one of those days where people would look up, sigh in contentment and say "Life is good."

It was bright and happy everywhere…. _except_ for a certain two-story log house on the outskirts of a forest.

A certain reaper with a tattered, red cape and black slacks inwardly sighed as he dragged himself towards the door of the house, picking up his sword off of a nearby weapon rack on his way out.

Now, it wasn't _really_ his fault that he was dragging his feet. But at the same time, it wasn't like he could blame the 2 little reasons for why his feet were dragging. Qrow sighed again, this time out loud, and stopped as he looked at the two 5-year-olds that were holding onto his legs as he tried to walk to the front door.

Sheathing his sword onto its usual spot on his back, he tiredly massaged his forehead with his right hand. "Ruby, Kit, will you _please_ let go?"

"NO!" Ruby shouted out. Kit shook his head, making sure the reaper knew that he wouldn't let go either. Both his hands clutched tightly around his uncle's leg, with all the strength that his 5-year-old hands had.

If anyone had been watching, it would've been an absolutely, downright hilarious sight to see. A grown man walking around with 2 little kids clutching his ankles as they tried their best to stop him from leaving.

"We don't want you to go, Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouted out.

Qrow whipped his head to his left as loud, rambunctious laughter exploded out. A tall, blonde haired man with a lively expression on his face walked out from the shadow of the doorway to the kitchen, laughing at the sight that was in front of him.

The mysterious and deadly reaper of grimm, the man who many criminals feared as _bloody death itself_ , was practically being tied down by two 5-year-olds.

Tai could barely stop himself from being bent in half from laughing so much.

Said man being tied down by two 5-year-olds gave him an annoyed look. "Tai, get over here and get your kids off me!"

The man that was Qrow's brother for life, the one that had stood by him time and time again, saving his life countless times…. just stood there shaking his head. "Sorry, Qrow. No can do." Tai shrugged helplessly, but it was offset by that smirk that was plastered onto his face. "What do you want me to say, man? They _really_ love their Uncle Qrow."

' _This is getting nowhere!'_ Qrow thought to himself. He looked down again at the 2 little kids that had a death grip on his legs. "I'm only going to be gone for a week, promise. There's some Hunter business that needs to get done, and I've gotta be the one to do it."

The 5-year-old with the orange fox tail looked at his red-hooded twin, before giving his Uncle Qrow a _look_.

Ruby nodded, agreeing with her twin. "Yeah, what Kit said!"

At this point another kid made herself known, one with blonde hair and lilac eyes. Yang came out from behind her dad, shaking her head with a smile. "Ruby, how do you even know what Kit said? He didn't even say anything."

"Twin power!"

Yang giggled at her sister's innocent reply, echoing her dad who was chuckling right next to her. "Okay, so for everyone else that doesn't have 'twin power', can you tell us what Kit said?"

Ruby scrunched up her face in thought, before thinking that it made sense. It's not like everyone else was her twin, right? So of course they wouldn't have her twin power! The black-haired 5-year-old looked up at her uncle who'd tried to slip out of their grasp while everyone else wasn't paying attention. "Kit said that we can't trust your promises!"

Hearing this, Qrow gazed at his nephew. "Oh, _really_?" He said, dragging out the last word. "And did he say why?"

Ruby nodded her head. "Last time you said you'd be gone for a week, you didn't come back for a _month_."

The black-haired reaper sweated a little at his niece's statement. Flashbacks about the drunken escapades that he'd gotten into after celebrating another successful mission done for Oz flashed through his mind. One particular waitress came to mind. She'd delayed his return with her amazing _'customer service'_ for a few days just by herself.

"They've got ya there, Qrow." Tai said. "You do kinda just disappear and not come back for a while."

"Tai," Qrow replied with a deadpanned expression. "You're not helping here."

The man just crossed his arms over his brown leather vest with a smirk. "Oh, I know I'm not. I never said I would, either."

Qrow gave him a _look_ , irritation flickering through his eyes. Lesser men had quivered in fear under his stare.

But there was a reason why Taiyang Xiao-Long was once revered as a Huntsman among Huntsmen. When he had been an active Hunter, people had a saying when it came to him.

" _The Dragon Fears Nothing."_

He'd been a man that had stared down a rampaging herd of Goliaths and stood strong! Nothing stopped The Dragon!

Especially not an irritated look from a crow.

Taiyang just stared right back at him with a smirk and a cocked eyebrow, just waiting for a challenge.

…. Qrow was the one who ended up looking away first. _'Dammit. Never did manage to stare him down back then, either.'_

The reaper knew that he couldn't look down again towards the two reasons why he hadn't left the house yet either. If he saw one of the twins' famous wide-eyed pouts, there was no way he'd be able to go on Oz's assignment.

Seeing no other way out, the black-haired man finally looked at the only responsible one of the family.

…. but she was also the one who was least likely to him out at this point.

"Yang," Qrow said with a sigh. "Please. Do something?"

The blonde-haired 8-year-old stared at her uncle, a finger tapping on her chin in thought. She _could_ say no… but her uncle _did_ say that it was important for him to go this time. But then again, without her Uncle Qrow around, the twins might start turning their pranks towards _her_ instead. Still…

Suddenly, it was like a lightbulb went off in her head, and she stared her at her uncle right in the eyes. "What's in it for me?" She asked, her long blonde hair ruffling behind her.

Qrow paused. For a split-second, Yang's figure had overlapped with another one from his memories. One with black hair and red eyes, staring at him as she said the exact same thing. _'D*mn. Raven would be proud if she saw this. Her daughter is already learning the art of extortion.'_

At this point though, he was completely at her mercy. So, he said the exact same thing he'd said whenever Raven had the same look in her eye.

"Alright," Qrow drawled as he looked into his niece's eyes. "What do you want?"

' _YES!'_ The little sun dragon cheered silently in her head as soon as she heard her Uncle Qrow admit defeat. This whole thing hadn't been planned, but it still worked out pretty well. "Take us to Signal with you on the next 'Bring Your Kids to Work Day'."

The red-eyed man squinted his eyes suspiciously as he looked towards his niece. "Why do you want to go Signal with me?" He asked.

"Cuz Signal's awesome! Duh."

Qrow mulled it over in his head for a second. It wasn't that bad of a request, and in all honesty, he'd thought she'd go for something a lot harder, like helping her convince her dad to get her a motorcycle. It's what she'd been trying to get him to do for the past few months after all.

Even though he knew what the answer would be, he still looked over towards Tai for confirmation first.

The man just shrugged, the metal pauldron on his shouldering clanking a little as it rose up before falling down again.

Qrow took that as a sign that he was alright with it.

"Ok, little lady. You've got yourself a deal."

The budding, blonde extortionist smiled as she cheered silently in her head. Walking towards the twin cookie monsters clinging onto their uncle's leg for dear life.

Bending down so she was level with their heads, she whispered into their ears. "Kit? Ruby? Would you _pleeease_ let go of Uncle Qrow's leg?"

The orange-ish blonde-haired twin shook his head, while the black-haired twin yelled out, "Never!"

"But if you do, _I'll put a little something extra in your lunch!_ " Yang smiled and said in a sing-song voice.

Faster than lightning, both twins let go of their uncle's leg at the same time and spun around to look at their sister.

"" **REALLY?!""** The both of them asked excitedly, Ruby shouting it out while her twin signed in VSL excitedly.

Yang nodded.

" **YAY!"** Ruby screamed out, her brother echoing in his own way. "Bye, Uncle Qrow!" The black-haired twin said, as the orange-blonde haired one waved.

…. Qrow was dumbfounded. He stood there for a few seconds as the rest of the family went into the kitchen to pack lunch for the kids, before he finally snapped out of it and went out the door, his red cape flourishing dramatically as he left the Xiao-Long/Rose residence.

If anyone was nearby as he left, they would have heard the fearsome reaper mutter to himself, "Can't believe I got replaced by fruit!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** It's not that long, I know, but I just wanted to get something released so I'd get back in the habit of being punctual in releasing chapters again.

Thoughts? Opinions? Ideas on what could happen next? Let me know through your reviews!


	6. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** I'm a few days late, sorry. It took a lot longer to write this one than I thought it would. On the bright side, this chapter is longer than the last one.

 **Kyrogue23: **Great to see you're still reading, even after my long hiatus!

 **HeartofChaos13: **Thanks for the compliment, it's always great to read those!

 **Guest: ****Cute! And... hehehe.** **#1 cliche in any stories containing reapers: They never can resist cuteness. Never. Ever** **;)**

Yep. Hell yes. Not even a reaper can resist the pout.

 **Lelouch of Zero:** **I love the idea that Kit and Ruby bonded so much that they developed a twin sense despite not actually being born together, young Ruby's thinking face is adorable and comical.**

Glad to hear you're loving the story!

* * *

Sparkly, round silver eyes rose up over a bowl at a table in Patch Primary. They loomed over it in the same way that most people would eye a mountain of gold. Orange hair and silver eyes looked out across the table, over the bowl and towards the other side as they met black hair and silver eyes. Everything else on the table aside from the bowl might as well have been invisible to the two.

' _Red with green leaves,'_ Orange thought as he almost drooled.

' _Sweet with yummy goodness!'_ Black thought as her eyes shone.

There was a pause, almost as if everyone in the whole world was holding their breath.

Neither of them noticed as the table shook, the clattering of two trays as their owners sat down next to the entranced twins.

Blue eyes met green ones as Ash looked over at Aqua as she brushed her blue hair out of her eyes while they took in the scene in front of them. The green-eyed girl cocked an eyebrow as she looked towards the black-haired, six year old boy; a not-so-subtle jerk of her head in the direction of the twin cookie monsters made him sigh.

' _How come Aqua never has to deal with stuff like this?'_

Ash cupped his hands around his mouth as he faced the two and took in a deep breath…

"THEY'RE JUST STRAWBERRIES! STOP STARING AT IT SO MUCH!"

 **The silver-eyed twins smashed their hands down onto the table and all of the food jumped into the air!**

Ruby looked toward Kit, her eyes on his. With everyone focused on the flying fruits, no one else noticed that Kit's eyes subtly _flashed_. Everything in his vision slowed down, and he could suddenly see everything clearly. To him, the strawberries might as well have been floating in midair.

Snatching one right after the other and popping them into his mouth like a strawberry version of the cookie monster, Kit rampaged across the battlefield. No strawberry was left in his wake!

As he reached his hand out towards what must've been his 12th strawberry in a row, his faunus ears _twitched!_

Quick as a fox, he ducked as a piece of broccoli soared right over his head!

His eyes widened as he popped his head back up and saw his arch-rival in all things strawberry look right back into his eyes.

Panic flooded his system. ' _But, but how're you moving as fast as me?!'_

His black-haired sister just gave him a teasing grin as she read his thoughts. ' _Anything you can do, I can do too,_ _ **little**_ _brother.'_

A challenging look came into Kit's eyes as he heard her thoughts. ' _We'll see about that!'_ He thought back to her. ' _And you're NOT older than me!'_

That last thought of Kit's rang out in both of their heads as each moved into action.

The orange-haired twin grabbed one of the vegetables floating around and hurled at his black-haired sister.

Ruby, not even flinching, just turned her head to the side, snatching a strawberry out of the air with her mouth as she dodged the green bean that had zipped through the space between them. ' _Sorry Kit,'_ She thought as she turned back towards her faunus twin. ' _You'll have to do better than tha-'_ Which was when she finally saw that her twin had managed to get his hands on FOUR MORE STRAWBERRIES while she'd been busy dodging!

Fire lit up in her eyes. She would NOT let her twin get all of _her_ strawberries!

Quickly grabbing a few pieces of cabbage that were floating nearby, Ruby threw it towards her orange-haired twin like they were throwing stars.

They sliced through the air, cutting straight through a juice pouch on the way, before they suddenly _shredded_ through the last strawberry.

…..

….And suddenly, it was like time started up again.

Clatters of food dropping back into their places as the plates dropped back onto the table rang out.

To everyone else, the whole thing had been a huge blur.

Both of them had devoured the red berries like crazy, each berry flashing in the light as their hands quickly snatched them in mid-air before they disappeared.

Aqua stared at her younger friends, eyes wide open as she saw what had been a pile of red fruit disappear in less than a few seconds.

' _It's almost like magic.'_ She thought to herself.

She stared open-mouthed and in awe at her two friends, not noticing the growing look of horror that was slowly spreading across the twins' faces.

' _ **NOOOOO!'**_

Both of the twins sank down into their seats, the horror of what they'd done now upon them.

Ruby sniffled. "It was so _young_!"

Kit just nodded his head, agreeing with his twin, rubbing his eyes as he tried to be a man and not cry.

Just looking at the two of them almost made Aqua cry too, her eyes already starting to get wet. " _Guuuuys!"_ She whined. "Stop crying. You _know_ I cry whenever other people start crying."

This only got the two twins to rub their eyes even harder as they tried their best not to cry for their friend.

"Hey look!" The blue-haired seven year old said as she tried to distract her friends. "I think there's still some strawberries left!"

" **STRAWBERRY?!"**

' _ **STRAWBERRY?!'**_

Both of their heads popped up faster than you could see, their tears dried up and all thoughts of crying long gone.

The three of them peered into the bowl, and sure enough, there was 1 strawberry left.

 _Only_ one.

As soon as she saw that, Aqua made sure to back away as fast as possible.

Kit and Ruby both looked up, silver eyes meeting silver eyes. They both knew, _there was no way they were going to let the other one have it!_

They both stood up and were about to start an epic fight for food the likes of which had never been seen before when a voice suddenly rang out...

" _WHAT_ are you two doing?"

A shiver ran down their spines as their bodies stiffened.

"YANG!" Ruby cried out in fear, while Kit slowly turned his head around to face their sister.

" _N-n-nothing, sis! We weren't doing anything!"_ Kit signed, his hands shaking. Ruby nodded her head in hasty agreement.

The blonde-haired older sister squinted her eyes. "Oh, _really?_ " She said, with more than a little suspicion. She walked over to the middle of the table where they had all just been fighting not too long ago.

Lucky for the twins, there was absolutely no sign of what had just taken place whatsoever. All the food had coincidentally fallen right into place neatly.

"Ok," Yang said as she arched an eyebrow. "I guess if you weren't doing anything, that means you weren't _really_ going to eat this strawberry I packed for you." Plucking it from the bowl, the brawler tossed in her mouth and ate it in one go.

With just a single action, Yang had defeated the twins!

' _NOOOOOO!'_

Both of them fell lifelessly back into their seats, regret pasted onto their faces.

Their sister swaggered over to the both of them and leaned over so that she was whispering into their ears. " _That's_ for lying to me." She said, before sauntering off.

The blue-haired friend of the two just looked at the scene in confusion. "Wait, Ash, how did she know that they were lying?" She asked, before turning to look at her black-haired boy. "Oh." That was all she said.

" _HMMM._ I don't know, Aqua." The six year old boy said, _dripping_ with sarcasm. And juice. Lots, and LOTS of fruit juice. His whole body was practically painted pink with it. "But, you know what? I think _you're_ going to be the one to deal with these two next time." Ash stormed off, his shoes squelching with every step.

Completely oblivious, the two that were at the center of the whole problem in the first place finally looked up from their silent brooding.

The black-haired twin looked at her orange-haired twin, who nodded back to her.

' _Sis is going down!'_

* * *

That night, at the Xiao-Long/Rose house.

A pair of scissors gleamed in the moonlight streaming in from a nearby window. A pair of silver-eyed twins were hovering over a bed with a certain blonde older sister with hair that had already grown down to her shoulders.

Ruby looked at her twin, worry clearly shown in her eyes.

' _Kiiiit.'_ She thought to her twin. ' _Maybe we shouldn't do it. What if Yang gets mad?'_

The orange-haired twin arched an eyebrow with a confused look on his face. ' _But_ _ **you're**_ _the one that came up with the idea! Besides, how's she going to find out?'_ Kit put a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. ' _Relax, no one'll know but us.'_ He said reassuringly.

' _Ok…'_ Ruby said hesitantly, before an eager grin grew on her face. ' _In that case, I wanna do it!'_

The fox faunus held out the scissors to his sister with the red hood. ' _You sure?'_ He asked his twin.

Instead of answering, Ruby just took the scissors.

Seeing that, Kit decided to just roll with it. Slowly, carefully he held up a single strand of gold in his hand.

Ruby turned to her brother and held up the scissors.

 _ **SNIP**_

* * *

The next morning.

A certain dusty old crow burst into the living room of the Xiao-Long/Rose residence. The reaper with the tattered, red cape looked around, as if searching for someone, before finally spotting his old teammate sitting by an open window.

"Tai," Qrow began. "We need to talk. Now."

The blonde-haired man's eyes sharpened. He hadn't smelled any liquor coming off of Qrow. That was never a good sign.

"Where are the kids?" Qrow asked.

Tai nodded towards the open window, and the grey-shirted reaper took a look outside. An orange-haired fox faunus was playing with his twin sister, laughing and giggling about something that wasn't readily apparent to him.

"Yang?" Qrow questioned.

"She's upstairs, sleeping. What is it Qrow? You're not drunk." The blonde-haired man paused. "And as much as I'd love it if you'd stop drinking, I know you. When you quit drinking, it's never a good sign."

Qrow's eyes darted towards the stairs, his eyebrows furrowed, before it seemed like he finally came to a decision. "I wish I could tell you that you're wrong, but you're not. Not right now anyway." The Hunter took his sword and leaned it against the wall, before sitting down in a chair facing Tai. "I did some digging while I was out there for Oz. Turns out, the kid might still have a target on his back."

At this, Tai leaned in, a dangerous look in his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about, Qrow?!" There was more than just a little anger in his voice. Qrow could feel it. There might've even been a little fear in it, too. Normally Qrow would've been glad to see that Tai had grown to love the kid like his own son, but now wasn't the time for that.

"What's happening? Who's targeting my son?!"

Qrow held his hands up in a placating manner. "Tai, calm down. Getting angry won't do anything right now."

A fist smashed down onto the table between them. "DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" Tai shouted.

As soon as he said it though, a look of worry appeared on both of their faces. They quickly looked out the window and breathed a sigh of relief when it didn't seem like the kids were paying any attention.

Qrow sent a glare towards Tai, who at least didn't seem like he was going to raise his voice again anytime soon.

"Are you done now? Are we good?" He said towards the brawler.

Tai nodded slowly. "Yeah. We're good."

"Alright." Qrow paused before he continued. "The people that killed Kit's parents-" Qrow quickly corrected himself after being glared at by Tai. "-Kit's, _biological_ parents, are still out there looking for him."

Tai just sat there. Even though he was looking at Qrow, anyone could see that his mind was still digesting the new information that he'd been given.

"Why?" Was the first word out of his mouth after he'd snapped out of his daze. "Is it because he has silver eyes? I thought no one even remembered those old legends!"

The black-haired man just shook his head. "I don't know why. Maybe it's because he's got silver eyes, or maybe it's something else entirely. One thing's for sure though, his family wasn't just killed for being faunus. If they were, then their search wouldn't have lasted this long."

…..

…..

It was awhile before either of them spoke again.

Tai sighed, standing up and looking out to the open window, where Kit and Ruby were still out there playing with something that glinted in the sunlight. "What do I do, Qrow? If I do anything to make him safer, he'll start asking questions. Questions that I don't know if I'm ready to answer, or ever _want_ to."

Qrow stood up and put a hand on Tai's shoulder. "I can't tell you what to do. Hell, I don't even know what to do in your shoes. But whatever you decide to do, I'll be right there with you." The grey-shirted man saw the look in his friend's eyes as he stared out the window at his son, and immediately knew what he was thinking about. "If you _do_ end up telling him, I know he'll understand. Eventually. He knows you're his dad too."

Tai turned his head to Qrow, but whatever he was about to say was immediately cut off by loud yelling coming from the 2nd floor of the house.

" **RUUUUBY! KIT! YOU'RE BOTH** _ **SOOOOO**_ **DEAD!"**

Outside, the orange-haired twin looked at his black-haired twin as they shared a fearful look. Right away, they turned and ran towards the house.

"DAD! SAVE US!"

Qrow grinned and Tai just couldn't stop laughing.

There were two things that happened that day.

1) Kit and Ruby found out that you should _NEVER_ mess with your older sister's hair.

2) Yang discovered her semblance

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Yo! I'll be trying to make these updates more regular, but due to college limiting the time I've got to write, most likely the next update will be in a couple weeks.

 **Got something to say? See something you like? Got something to suggest? Review and let me know!**


	7. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** So, I've got bad news. Unfortunately, the next update after this one will be sometime late May. It's near the end of the college semester for me and things have gotten pretty busy. Anyway, on to answering questions!

 **Lelouch of Zero:** how can Kit's biological parents be looking for him if they're dead? or are these people pretending to be his biological parents for unknown reasons?

Glad to hear that you liked the matrix-style food fight from last chapter! It took me awhile to get that down right (practically every fight scene takes me awhile to write, actually). Anyway, **Professor Writer** 's explanation was spot on. Yes, it's actually the killers that are still out there looking for him. Although I will admit that people pretending to be his biological parents would've made for a great twist.

 **Professor Writer:** I am quite interested to see what happens with Aqua and Ash. I am especially interested to see what's going on behind the scenes with the people who killed Kit's biological parents.

First thing's first, thanks for answering someone else's question while I was gone. I'd feel bad if their questions went unanswered all this time. I honestly would LOVE to tell you the great things I've got in store for Aqua and Ash, but that would be spoiling, haha. Sorry to say, but you'll have to wait and see! As far as the killers go, I can't say anything on that front, but I'm always interested in hearing people's opinions on what's going to happen. Also, I know you're happy about the fact that I was just starting to pick up on writing more chapters frequently, which is why it pains me to say that I'm slowing things down a little more until my college semester is over. Sorry! Thanks for letting me know I'm doing a good job on the Kit-Ruby interactions though.

 **Aveshetta:** As i love this fluffy chapter , I can't wait for the canon .

Can't wait for the canon? Me too!

 **Kyrogue23:** It seem that both Ruby and Kit went into flashtime to get those strawberries and I bet he has the same semblance as Ruby. Now I am worry for both Kit and Ruby now because if they are looking for Kit they may find Ruby too. Qrow should start teaching them how to defend themselves now.

Love your theories! Gotta agree, Qrow really should start teaching them how to defend themselves now. However, I don't think I'll have the time to actually show that in a chapter, so I might just make a mention of it somewhere down the line that it actually happened.

 **Lyricangel25:** So wait is it just gonna tell childhood or do like a time skip to beacon later on.

Right now we're still in the Childhood Arc. **[SPOILER ALERT]** There's one more important scene we need to go through before I time-skip to the Signal Arc. After that, we'll finally be in the Beacon Arc.

* * *

"Alright kids, gather around!" Carmine Winchester called out to her Primary class. Kids from all corners of the classroom came running over, some smaller, some taller, some younger, some older.

The pony-tailed teacher's lips curled into an easy smile, and she had to fight to stop laughing at how all of her kids were behaving.

' _This is definitely my favorite part of the day.'_ She thought to herself as she looked out over the fifteen or so kids that were now sitting cross-legged around her on the ground. Carmine leaned back into her comfy teacher's chair, watching as her students all stared eagerly at her. None of them could go a few seconds without saying something, which made the others shush them, ironically making even more of the kids shush them back. ' _Storytime is always their favorite time, too.'_

Funny enough, storytime was also one of the hardest times for her to figure out what to do, seeing as her kids were all of varying ages. Patch Primary never had enough students enrolled, to the point where they couldn't even split them into different grades. The teachers had to supply "appropriately-leveled" material for each of their students.

Right now there were only 2 separate classes. There was her class, which had 12 kids ages 5-8. They were always pretty rowdy but she could always get them to calm down by putting on her "scary teacher" face.

Then there was the only other class in the school, which was taught by her older colleague, Robert Ross. The man could be a bit of an ass but that was only when it came to her. He thought that she was "too much of a _youth_ " to be able to teach well, from the moment that he'd heard her name. The black-haired man was sprightly and looked young for a man in his late 70's, considering that everyone that met him thought he was actually in his early 50's. The perks of being a retired Huntsman. Aura kept you looking younger than you actually were.

The "old fart", as she liked to call him, had brown eyes that always softened up around kids. As soon as they saw her, though, his eyes would immediately change into something more like steel. Having lived through the Great War as a teenager, Robert Ross saw anyone that was younger than 50 as being too young to be teaching others. Considering the fact that the Color Revolution had taken place when he was a teen, it was easy for him to figure out who was "too young" for him to trust, aura or no aura. Practically anyone with a Color Name was out of luck in getting into his good graces when it came down to deciding who was good enough to be a teacher.

Lucky for her, it wasn't his decision.

Unluckily, however, he was the only other teacher at the school. His class was full of well-behaved kids that were getting ready to go to Signal Academy. Basically, kids that were anywhere from 9 years old to 11 yrs old were under his jurisdiction.

' _I'll show_ him _who's the better teacher!'_ With that last thought ringing in her head, it was like a lightbulb went off in her head.

"Ok, class. Today we're going to be reading a _favorite_ of mine." The red-haired Winchester began as she reached into her bag of books sitting next to her on the ground, fumbling through it a little before her hand finally grasped the one that she'd been thinking of. "Today we're going to be reading a folk tale!"

All of the kids quickly went quiet. Their eyes were wide open in wonder as they leaned in closer.

"This is the story," Carmine loudly whispered for dramatic effect, "of the _Enchanted Forest!"_ A dark green book burnished with realistic-looking artwork of leaves was reflected in the eyes of the children.

There was only one thought that rang out in their heads.

' _Whoooah. Cool.'_

* * *

A nudge shook Ruby out of her awe, and she turned to see her faunus brother looking straight into her eyes.

' _Yo sis, why's Miss Winchester smiling so much today?'_

Ruby shrugged and sent a thought back to her 7 year old twin. ' _I don't know. Maybe someone gave her a cookie today?'_

Kit just rolled his eyes. ' _Don't you think we would've known if she had cookies?'_ He thought back in response. The orange-haired fox might've been mute, but he never needed to sign when it came to his twin. They always knew whatever the other one was thinking, after all.

The black-haired twin tilted her head a little as she thought about it, before realizing that her brother was probably right. Kit would've been able to smell cookies on her since he was a faunus, and if Kit knew, then she would've known too.

As the story started, neither of the twins gave it more thought.

They'd have bigger problems afterward.

* * *

Carmine Winchester cleared her throat as she opened up the dark green book. Within seconds, the entire class was hypnotized by her voice. The classroom disappeared, and in its place was a sleepy little village.

 _Once upon a time, there was a small village. People walked from place to place with a big smile on their face. Some were short, some were tall. Some were big, some were small._

 _Kids ran around having fun, doing all kinds of weird things under the sun._

 _Little Blue wasn't like the other kids. He always liked running around outside the village._

 _His Momma told him "Don't go into the forest", as she had a mother's intuition._

 _But Little Blue never liked to listen, treating his mom's words more like a suggestion._

 _So the very next day he went to the forest, looking like a very weird tourist._

 _Then the next day his Momma told him, "Don't talk to strangers!"_

 _So the very next day he went to the forest and talked, talked, talked to all the plants, big and small, until he met someone with ears like a fox._

 _The man had nine tails swishing back and forth. Striding past Little Blue, he just walked into the jungle and disappeared from view._

' _Who's stranger than that?' Thought Little Blue, so off he went, to talk to Mr. Fox-Man too._

 _But as soon as he saw him, got close and drew near, Mister Fox-Man disappeared!_

 _Confused and afraid, Little Blue tried to turn around and run away._

 _But before he could get far, the trees all gathered 'round and a voice sounded out._

" _Little Blue, Little Blue. Didn't your Momma tell you not to go to the forest?"_

 _He turned and turned, but couldn't see from where the voice came._

" _Well, Little Blue, I suppose it wouldn't have mattered," The voice whispered. "After all, just that wouldn't have put you in danger. But Little Blue, didn't your Momma also tell you not to talk to strangers?"_

 _As soon as the voice rang out, the Fox-Man appeared with nary a noise but Little Blue's shout._

 _Day turned to night, and when the night grew old, Little Blue was found….without a soul._

The book slammed shut, startling everybody out of their hypnotized state. All of the kids now had eyes wide open...in fear. The red-haired Winchester looked up at her class. ' _Crap.'_ That was the only thought she had as she took in her students' reactions.

* * *

"Hey Kit, think fast!"

Kit's fox ears twitched, before he spun around and caught the stick that was thrown at him. His silver eyes looked down at it, before he looked back up at his friend in confusion.

Ash grinned as he held a stick about the same size in his hand. "Well, come on! Don't just stare at it. _There can only be one!_ " The black-haired boy challenged as he held the stick with both hands on one end.

The orange-haired 7 year old gave an answering grin. He held his stick just like Ash, and the two boys started circling each other.

It wasn't long before one of them stepped on a twig, and their stalemate _**SNAPPED**_.

The two 7 year olds charged at each other and in less than a second they had already exchanged more than a dozen blows before they backed off from each other again.

"Eh. Not bad, Kit. But I don't think you're really a sword kinda guy."

The faunus just rolled his eyes and smirked as he one-handedly signed back a response. " **Like you're any better, dude."**

"Pssh! I'm like, _waaaay_ better than you, man! Better be careful, or I'm gonna knock that smile off your face." Ash took off at a sprint before he even finished his last sentence. Dirt and leaves flew out of his path, and just before he reached Kit, Ash took a giant leap and swung downwards!

Kit, as if he saw everything in slow motion, just took a big step to the side and let Ash strike hit the ground before he reached out with a hand and snatched the "sword" out from the other boy's hand.

Grinning cheekily, the fox faunus held a "sword" in each hand, the look on his face making it clear what he thought about Ash's skills being " _waay_ better".

...Too bad Kit couldn't keep that smile on his face for long.

In the blink of an eye, Ash jumped up to his feet and spun into a roundhouse kick, knocking both of the sticks out of Kit's hands. He didn't pause and used the momentum from the first kick to spin into a second roundhouse kick which hit Kit's face with a loud _**SMACK**_ , knocking the orange-tailed fox faunus sideways onto the ground.

"Ok, so I'm not that good with a sword. Told ya I'd knock that smile off your face, though."

Kit was back up on his feet faster than you'd think. He wasn't someone who'd stay down long, after all. Taking up a martial arts stance, he signed towards his friend. " **Better be careful. Sis taught me a thing or two about how to fight barehanded!"**

Ash snorted.

"Pssh. I'm not scared. Ruby couldn't hit the broadside of a-"

A fist smacked into his face with a loud _**WHAM**_ before he could finish.

The black-haired 7 year old slid back a few feet, his hand covering the part of his face that was just hit. There was a look of disbelief on his face as he stared at his friend.

Kit just grinned as he signed, " **I never said anything about** _ **Ruby**_ **teaching me how to throw a punch."**

An eager smile spread out slowly on both of their faces as they faced-off against each other.

' _This is gonna be fun!'_

That was the last thought in both of their heads as rushed towards each other again, kicks matching punches as they both sparred happily.

* * *

Some time later, both of the two boys were flat on their backs, chests heaving as they tried to catch their breath.

Ash felt something nudge him, and he turned to see Kit exhaustedly signing to him.

" **Hey, Ash. Are we friends?"**

The black-haired kicker bit back the sarcastic remark that'd been on the tip of his tongue, too exhausted to mess around at the moment. He was only able to muster up the energy for a single word.

"Duh."

It was awhile before either of them could do anything aside from try to catch their breath from their fight afterwards.

Still, once they did, Ash looked over towards Kit. "What's up, man? Why are you asking weird questions?"

The fox faunus just waved his hand, trying to tell his friend that it was nothing.

Ash just gave him a deadpanned look. "Yeah…" He said, stretching out the word. "I'm not buying it. What's going on?"

Kit shook his head in denial, trying to fend off his friend's concern.

"Listen," The blue-eyed boy said. "You can either tell me what's up, or I go tell Yang."

The orange-tailed faunus squinted his eyes at his friend. " **Dude, you'd go and tell on me? That's a low blow, man."**

Ash winced. "Yeah, you're probably right. Look, how 'bout this? You tell me what's goin' on, and I'll tell you a secret that I haven't told no one."

There was a pause as Kit's face scrunched up, thinking about it. It wasn't long before he decided to just roll with it.

" **People been looking at me funny lately. A lot of 'em won't play with me anymore, too."**

Both of the boys lay there on the ground in silence for awhile, just staring up at the trees and the leaves above them.

"Sorry man. People are weird, so just ignore them. Besides, you still got me and Aqua to play with." Ash knew as soon as the words left his mouth that everything he said was a hollow consolation.

He meant every word of it though.

Before he could beat himself up too much about his lame attempt at making his friend feel better, he saw Kit trying to get his attention out of the corner of his eye.

Ash pulled himself up enough that he was facing Kit while leaning against a tree trunk, seeing that his friend had already done the same. He was so out of it that he had to ask Kit to slow down and repeat a couple of his signs before he finally understood what Kit was trying to ask.

" **So, what about you? You said you had a secret?"**

Ash's cheeks warmed up as he looked away and muttered something under his breath.

Kit just gave him a deadpanned look, which his black-haired friend somehow managed to catch out of the corner of his eye.

"...I said my last name's Ketchup!"

" **Wait, what?"**

"Yeah, well, it's a long story. I'm adopted. Cops found me on the street when I was 3. I couldn't remember what my last name was, so I just gave them the first thing that came to my head, and they put it in as my actual last name."

" **...So, do you call Mister Ross, Dad?"**

Ash just stared at his friend. "Really? You're not going to make fun of my last name? Not going to say anything about how I'm adopted?"

Kit shook his head.

" **Nope."**

There was a pause before they both gave each other a nod. They might've been friends before, but now they were going to be best friends for life.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Let me know if there was something you liked about the chapter, comment if I could've done better!

(Also, please let me know if there's any spelling or grammar errors since I don't actually proofread these before I upload them).

-Just to let you all know (so that you won't think it's a typo), I wrote that Kit is now 7. Not a typo, it's a subtle time-skip.

-Also, I changed Miss Winchester's hair from black to red (because her name's Carmine, so I thought it should fit).

 **Update:** I found an error where in the dialogue between Ruby and Kit. It said that she signed back to Kit (instead of just doing their whole 'twin telepathy' thing). I fixed it so that they're doing the "twin telepathy" now.


	8. Chapter 5

Hey, Firecracker. You up yet?"

The 9-year-old blonde sat up on her bed and rubbed at her eyes tiredly as she stared at the blurry figure of a black-haired man.

"Uncle Qr-" Yang didn't quite manage to stop the yawn from escaping as she stared at the only role model she had. Aside from her dad, of course. "-ow? What time is it?" A quick glance at the alarm clock on at her bedside table only made her gaze whip back towards the red-eyed man. " _5:30?!_ Why!" Yang groaned with all the indignity a 9 year old could muster up as she collapsed back onto her bed. "Uncle Qrow, it's 5:30 in the morning. Go back to sleep!"

Qrow just chuckled at his niece's antics. At the back of his head there was another scene of him waking someone else up at this time of day. A certain someone with black hair and red eyes. She might've grown up to be someone that woke up at the crack of dawn, but she'd hated waking up this early when they were kids. Just like her daughter did now.

He quickly pushed that thought out of his head though before he went back down _that_ road. Reminiscing was for old folks with nothing left but time. DIdn't matter if he'd found a grey hair earlier that morning as Qrow _refused_ to be old.

Crossing his arms, he arched an eyebrow as he looked over the small figure that was trying desperately to go back to sleep. "Ya know, I remember a certain someone who practically blackmailed me into promising to bring her to 'Bring Your Kids to Work Day'." If he hadn't been a spy that was trained to understand body language, posture, and decrypt some of the world's toughest coded languages, there would have been no way that he'd have been able to understand the series of grunts, groans and mumbles that came out from under the pile of sheets that Yang had piled on top of herself.

Fortunately for Qrow, working for Ozpin had given him the skills he needed to decode the jumble that was Yang's barely recognizable speech.

It went something along the lines of, " **Bring your kids to work day was 2 MONTHS AGO! You weren't even back from your mission yet, so you couldn't take us. Besides, it's Saturday!"**

"Alright, so I feel bad about not being able to keep my promise in taking you guys to Signal. _That's_ why I'm here now." Seeing no response from the pile of tangled sheets, Qrow decided that it was probably time to drop the bomb. " _So_ … There's a ship that usually sets out around 6:30 in the morning from here…" In a flash, the entire pile of sheets practically exploded as his blonde-haired niece practically _burst_ with excitement, her arms up in the air with joy. His eyes crinkled in amusement. ' _Boom. Knew that would work.'_

"YOU'RE-REALLY-TAKING-US-TO-VALE?! ON-A-SATURDAY?! AND-WE'RE-SPENDING-THE-WHOLE-DAY-THERE?! I-GOTTA-GET-RUBY-AND-KIT-READY!"

Quick as a flash, Yang disappeared from her room as she went to wake up her siblings, which left Qrow smirking in amusement. ' _You'd never know that she and Ruby weren't full sisters with how alike those two can be.'_

Kit's eyes were wide open as he stared out at all the tall buildings and people that they passed. His black-haired twin was the same, her eyes glued on anything that was colorful. Of course, since the world shared a culture that celebrated individuality, that meant she was staring at practically _everything_.

The boat ride from Patch had been fun at first, but it got boring after awhile. It was only after they'd reached Vale that the twins' eyes had _really_ popped open. It was a first for the 2 younger siblings to actually leave the island. While their dad and Uncle Qrow would head towards the mainland every now and then, they'd always have some kind of reason why Kit and Ruby couldn't go.

The two of them didn't like it. Even their big sister Yang got to go once with their dad!

Right now though, Kit didn't care. He was finally in Vale!

Before he could get any further caught up in the awesomeness that was the capital city of the kingdom, his uncle's voice snapped him out of his trance.

"Now, before we get going anywhere, there's going to be some ground rules."

Kit could almost swear he saw his sisters deflate right then and there. He just shrugged though. He'd kinda figured that something like this would happen.

Qrow took in the decidedly less-than-happy expressions on the girls' faces and just chuckled. "Yeah, yeah I know. I'm not normally the guy that's all about the rules, but I had to do a _lot_ of convincing to get your dad to let me bring you kids with me into town. If nothing goes wrong, I might even be able to talk him into doing this more often."

""YEAH!"" Yang pumped her fist in the air as Ruby yelled out excitedly.

"Alright, alright. Calm down, we still haven't even gone over the rules yet. Besides, I think you've drawn a _little_ too much attention." Qrow really regretted not bringing a camera at that moment, as the kids realized how many people had started to stare at them. Ruby's cheeks were flat-out red with all of the attention, and even though Yang still wore a cocky look on her face, he could tell that she was just as embarrassed.

* * *

It didn't take long for the crowd to find something else to look at, which was one of the good things about people's shrinking attention spans.

It didn't matter to Ruby though. Her cheeks were still _burning_ and _whycouldn'tshestopandnowshejustwantedtogohome_ -

Before she knew it someone practically tackled into her, arms encircling her, as the force knocked the hood that hung loosely behind her onto her head. Looking down, she saw silver eyes staring straight into her own.

' _C'mon big sis! You can't leave your lil' bro alone in Vale!'_ Kit whined with a pout. Funny enough, the sight of her younger twin pouting somehow managing to set off a chain of non-stop giggles from her.

Ruby's burning red cheeks faded back to their original color as she stared back at Kit. She sent a thought back to him with a smile on her face. ' _I'm not leaving, dummy.'_

' _Hey!'_ Kit thought back, annoyed.

This just set off another fit of giggles from the black-haired 7 year old.

' _Hmph!'_ Her brother spun around in a huff before walking back to their uncle.

' _Thanks, Kit.'_ She thought as she watched him huff away, knowing that he wouldn't hear it. They couldn't hear what the other person was thinking unless they were looking into the other person's eyes, after all.

Neither of them knew that Yang was standing behind the both of them, a proud look on her face.

"Now, there aren't a lot of rules, so the whole trip will still be fun." Uncle Qrow began. "Rule number 1: Everybody sticks together. That means no running off into bakeries just because they have cookies," the black-haired uncle stared at the two younger twins who couldn't help but blush, "and no running off to go and fight people at nearby boxing gyms!" At this, everyone turned to stare at the 9-year-old blonde boxer. Yang looked like a fish, her mouth opening and closing in disbelief; various undecipherable sounds burst out of her mouth stutteringly as she sputtered.

"Wh-Bu-tha-," Was all she managed to get out before Qrow held up his hand.

"I don't want to hear it, Firecracker. No excuses. I don't want to have to pay for another kid's hospital bills just because you didn't remember to hold back." Yang definitely lived up to her nickname as she kept sputtering before she finally fizzled out. Qrow wasn't the only one who rolled his eyes when Yang muttered, "I don't do that _all_ the time."

Qrow continued on as if Yang hadn't said anything at all. "Rule number 2: if we _do_ get separated, Yang's in charge." Whatever complaints that the twins were going to voice were quickly put out under their older sister's scary glare. The red-eyed uncle took it in with a smirk. "No complaints? Good. Yang, here you go." Qrow passed something over to his blonde-haired niece, who yelped in surprise as two of the sections split apart after she pressed a button, a transparent screen now in-between the separated pieces. "Your dad and I thought that you're finally old enough to get your own scroll. My number and your dad's are already in there. If _anything_ happens, make sure to call me right away. Got it?" Yang could barely manage to nod back at him as she fiddled around in awe with her new scroll.

In fact, she was so busy fiddling around with it that she walked straight into a nearby pillar, giggles breaking out from a certain fox and red-hood.

A loud _**SMACK**_ could be heard as Qrow facepalmed. ' _At least Tai wasn't around to see that. It took me a long time to convince him that she was ready for a scroll. Wouldn't take 2 seconds for him to find a reason to take it back.'_

The reaper looked over at his sister's daughter, marveling at how different she was from her mother. ' _It's probably for the best.'_ He thought to himself. ' _The world can barely survive one Raven. Brothers help us if Yang grows up to be exactly like her.'_ A silent shudder went through him at the mental image of a darker, grim Yang. A tall woman with long-flowing blonde hair, a permanent scowl on her face with a hand always ready to cut down her enemies, trusting no one but the blade at her side.

"The weak die, the strong live."

He blinked, and the image disappeared.

That twisting sensation in his gut stayed, though.

' _The hell is wrong with me today?'_ Qrow subtly shook his flask, the contents inside swishing. ' _Nope, haven't touched a drop yet.'_ Even though he was what most people would call addicted, the black-haired reaper had made sure not to even touch his flask today. Not while he was still trying to be a "responsible" uncle for his nieces and nephew on their first trip to Vale together. ' _This can't be a good sign. Haven't thought of Raven for a long while now, and suddenly she's popping up in my head more times than I've actually seen her in-person.'_ He made a mental note to keep his eyes open for anything even remotely suspicious. ' _Would be just my luck that she'd show up today of all days, too.'_

A tug at his shirt quickly drew his attention, and he noticed a pair of orange fox ears attached to a pair of silver eyes worried looking at him. " **U-Uncle Qrow?"** His adopted nephew hesitantly signed. " **What's wrong?"**

Without even realizing it, the black-haired reaper had tensed up sometime during his thoughts, a hand straying towards his weapon out of habit for security, a habit all Hunters picked up. The ones that survived, anyway.

"It's nothing, kiddo." Qrow was quick to reassure. "Just your dad's cooking coming back to bite me in the butt." He said with a wink.

Kit's silver eyes widened in panic. " **NOOOO! Don't die, Uncle Qrow!"** The reaper read through the blur that was his nephew's signing before he suddenly had a bad feeling come over him. " **YangYangYang! Uncle Qrow ate dad's cooking!"**

' _Crap.'_

That was all the time he had before his 9-year-old niece's fist crashed into his gut, making him double over.

Let it be said that breakfast never tastes as good going through your mouth a second time.

" _Thanks_." He said dryly as he straightened up, the sarcasm flying far over their heads as the 3 kids looked up at him in relief.

The blonde responsible just smiled. "Anytime Uncle Qrow! I just thought you'd have learned not to try dad's cooking again after last time."

Ignoring that last comment from his oldest niece (and the horrifying memories that it threatened to bring up), he pulled out his scroll and checked the time.

 **8:30am**

"C'mon, kiddos. Let's get a move on!" Qrow just hoped that terrible feeling in his stomach was just an after-effect of being punched in the gut.

* * *

Qrow's gut feeling didn't go away. In fact, despite nothing having gone wrong and the kids having a good time, it only got progressively worse.

 **8:45am: Vale's Aquatic Odyssey**

An Aquarium housing many of the local marine life from the seas around the kingdom of Vale. Kit and Ruby took turns making funny faces at the fish. Yang somehow managed to make friends/rivals with sharks. Everybody had a great time. Qrow's stomach rumbled as his gut feeling stayed, so they decided to go for food afterwards.

 **10:45am: Mick Dawnold's**

A fast food chain that was originally popular for their great food, great prices, and good service. Even after the quality of the food went down, prices skyrocketed and the service quality fell faster than the time Yang knocked out a barber for daring to touch her hair (there was a reason her dad now personally did her haircuts), it was still a place that many people ate at frequently. It'd been around for so long that it was part of the culture. Ruby and Kit staged a fight between their chicken-saurus' (i.e. chicken nuggets), while Yang stuck some of her fries in her burger and dipped the rest of them in her milkshake. The food didn't help Qrow's stomach at all.

 **11:45am: Deez Knee Land**

A popular theme park that opened up after the massive success of the original company's many kids' films. The twins ran around finding all of their favorite characters from different movies, while Yang managed to drag them all into a picture with her favorite kick-ass princess with long-flowing hair. After going on many rides and several roller coasters with the kids, the reaper's gut feeling had gotten so bad that he was now actively keeping an eye on whatever and whoever looked suspicious. At this point, he _really_ wished that it was just nausea from the several loops that the ride had done. Looking for suspicious activity was easier said than done when in a theme park. _**EVERYONE**_ was suspicious. That was a given, considering how crowded it was and how many people in costumes there were.

'Hmm. Maybe I really did eat Tai's cooking and just forgot about it.' He mused. Of course, he knew that wasn't the case. No one would forget eating the cooking that the father of three would whip up every now and then.

No one.

 **2:30pm: Deez Knee Land**

The Reaper of Grimm finally realized one of the biggest signs that he'd been missing. _Nothing had gone wrong the whole day_.

And when your uncontrollable semblance was bad luck, _that was never a good sign._ This didn't make the sight of a single, black feather falling from the sky any more reassuring.

* * *

"Yang," Qrow said as he eyed the falling feather. "Why don't you stay here with the twins for a few minutes. I'm gonna go take care of that stomach problem I've been having."

"Eww!" Yang's face scrunched up in disgust. "Uncle Qrow. Seriously. T.M.I!" She called out after him as he walked off in the general area of a bathroom.

It wasn't long before he turned a corner and came face-to-face with someone who'd recently been in his thoughts more times than he'd actually seen her.

Standing there in her red-and-black tribesman outfit, katanas strapped to her waist, was Raven Branwen. Taking off her Grimm mask, her raven-black hair and red eyes being revealed as she did, she said the words that he'd always hated to hear.

"Hello, little brother. We need to talk."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** It's been awhile, but I'm back! I've had this part ready for the longest time, but I never had the time to go through and edit it. I finally just decided to screw it and post it anyway. I know I've been saying that I'll get to the next book soon, but the next chapter is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT to the story.

It's also got action scenes, so you'll all love it! (Or you'll hate me for what I'm about to do to some poor, innocent kids)

Anyway, news. I'm trying not to get burnt out from writing, and also juggling my college classes with my 30 hour work-week schedule. Due to this, I'll most likely only be able to post a chapter 1-2 times a month. I'll update my profile page with current news on what I'm up to and when I'll update. Every now and then I might post a chapter for another fanfic (switching between fanfics helps stave off writer's block), but this is my main fanfic for now.

So, even though I'll only be updating 1-2 times a month, at the very least you'll have stable updates from now on.


	9. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** This is the chapter that was supposed to be released in October.

* * *

"Raven." The glare that Qrow shot off had made more than a few people with weak hearts die. Anger rolled off of him in waves, making it more than clear what he thought of his sister.

"What's the matter, Qrow?" The bandit leader teased, striding up to him. "Not happy to see your big sister after all this time?" She smirked as Qrow took more than a few steps backwards. "Careful now, Qrow. You haven't forgotten what the tribe taught us, have you? The weak-"

"-die, the strong live." The former bandit finished, cutting her off. Unknown to most people, Qrow wasn't just _any_ huntsman. Even before he'd gone through Hunter training, he'd been a force that few people would stand in the way of. A bandit that thrived on the misfortunate. Fighting was his entire life, then _AND_ now. There were only so many things, though, that a man could handle before he just _snapped_.

From an outsider's perspective, Qrow's tense posture melted into an almost casual stance as his facial features smoothened out to an icy indifference. Any trained and experienced person would easily notice that he was still ready to fight at a moment's notice, though. In fact, loosening up his posture had made it even more obvious. Tensed muscle might have been good for taking a blow but it was slow to react, after all. It wasn't something that could be taught, as this kind of stance relied on instinct and muscle memory, honed from countless battles.

" **Cut the crap**." A tone, so _icy_ with indifference that it almost sounded bored, flowed from his lips. " **What do you want?** "

A grin practically split her face in half. " _There's_ the person I wanted to speak with." Raven spoke. Standing in front of her now wasn't Qrow Branwen, loving uncle and the fun drunk at parties. This wasn't the renowned pervert that frequented bars and spoke sweet nothings into the ears of women that were looking for a distraction.

 _This_ was _**The Crow**_. The former bandit that had massacred entire villages by her side for the tribe's survival. The agent of Ozpin that kidnapped, murdered and tortured along with innumerable other atrocities, all for "humanity's sake".

The darkest part of the being that called itself Qrow Branwen had come alive once again.

Even as she grinned, Raven had to resist the urge to wipe away the imaginary sweat that trickled down the side of her face.

She was just imagining it. It definitely wasn't real.

Still, it couldn't be understated exactly how dangerous of a situation Raven was in right now. Getting Qrow to switch to his colder, darker persona might have been part of the plan, but she was treading on a very, _very_ thin line.

Those that knew of Qrow's semblance usually underestimated him because of it. A deadly mistake. The truth was, his semblance couldn't be turned off. _**That didn't mean that it couldn't be ramped up at will.**_

Even she had to suppress shudders of fear the last time her brother had gone off on a rampage and fought without care for the destruction that his semblance could cause.

The Crow was a merciless scourge capable of causing the city of Vale to fall within _days_. One of 4 Hunters so dangerous that they'd been crowned as the legendary 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Qrow Branwen may be an amazingly skilled and terrifying Hunter, but he was nothing compared to his counterpart, _The Crow_. After all, _it_ had been given the title of **Famine** , a Hunter that could plague entire cities with enough misfortune that the entire area wouldn't be habitable for a decade.

All the luck in the area would rot and die. Fires would blaze with no hope of being put out, lightning would strike their unlucky targets 6-7 times in a row, disease would spread and cause suffering on a level unimagined. The worst part though, was that anyone that tried to help would only worsen the fates of those involved. Pushing someone out of the way of a falling pillar would instead push them into a burning inferno, trying to cure someone of the plague would instead cause them to die as your "cures" would cause them to suffer worse fates as they have bad reactions to the chemicals, even providing shelter to someone that had miraculously survived several lightning strikes would cause your family members to die under mysterious circumstances.

The only good thing was that Qrow Branwen's alter ego generally followed a logic-based mentality. The Crow was more likely to listen to what Raven was about to say than Qrow Branwen ever would, having cast aside all emotions.

" **Well?** " Famine of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse asked, his head slightly cocked to the side. " **If you're not going to talk, then I'll have to kill you for wasting my time, Raven."**

Raven's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't _dare_ try." She spat out. "You're not willing to use that semblance of yours around _this_ many people." The black-haired woman gestured to the wild throngs of happy families that flocked from place-to-place. The stench from the nearby bathrooms and numerous **[OUT OF ORDER]** signs may have kept them out of earshot but it was far from out of range of The Crow's semblance. "There's too many of your precious _innocents_ running around. _You_ might not care about it, but my foolish brother would. And we _both_ know that without it, you wouldn't stand a chance against me."

Famine couldn't care less about the well-being of innocents, but she was banking on the fact that Ozpin would. The Horseman knew that it wouldn't be wise to cross someone like the headmaster for no reason.

There was a pause in the air as Raven glared at her brother's alter ego, while **Famine** of the 4 horsemen stared back with cold indifference. " **Shelt, Kingdom of Vacuo."**

The bandit leader arched an eyebrow. "What are you-"

" **Gorg, Kingdom of Vale. Fuyuki, Kingdom of Mistral."** The man with Qrow's face _pushed_ as he strode forward with each name. Anyone who knew of the infamous Raven Branwen would have been shocked at that moment as the leader of the tribe renowned for insane bravery against all odds, _backed away with each step he took_.

" **Einzberg, Kingdom of Atlas."** The fake Qrow Branwen finished with a step more akin to a lunge.

And for the first time in her entire life, Raven Branwen _acknowledged her fear_ as she quickly jumped back and found her hands on the handles of her blades, seeking reassurance against the man that was now sporting a twisted rip on his face, a sick _**perversion**_ of a smile that didn't even reach those empty holes in his face that people would normally call eyes.

" **Have you ever heard of them?"** The _thing_ in human skin asked, cracking his neck. " **No? That's quite...un-fortune-ate."** _It_ said, with an emphasis on "fortune".

What it said next nearly stopped her heart.

" **Qrow Branwen knows where the tribe is."**

"You're lying!" The response that leapt from her mouth shocked herself more than it did her brother's Alter. Taking a second to compose herself, Raven continued. "If he knew where we were, then we wouldn't be as successful as we are now. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the second he actually found our location, we'd be swarmed with Kingdom forces in less than an hour."

Famine chuckled mirthlessly. " **Oh, he knows. The difference between him and I,"** The horseman paused to look at the raven-haired swordsman directly in the eye. " **Is that I'm not held back by whatever lingering...** _ **emotions**_ **, that idiot still has for his sister."**

Raven didn't miss the almost distaste it had when it even mentioned the word "emotions". While there was a part of her that was glad to know that some of the brother she knew (and would never admit that she loved) still existed, she was terrified that the same brother knew where the rest of their family was.

Because if Qrow knew, then _he_ knew.

And that monster was practically rubbing it right in her face.

There are few things as unnerving as being stared by a crow right in the eye. Which is why being stared at right in the eye by _THE_ Crow was more than just unsettling.

" **I operate on a strict set of rules, Raven Branwen. And I hope that you haven't done something as foolish as to** _ **break**_ **my rules."** It shook its head in a mockingly sad manner. " **Otherwise, Qrow Branwen may just have to wake up one day and find that his sister and the rest of the Branwen Tribe learned the same lesson that so many others have.** _ **You can't outrun misfortune."**_

There was a deafening silence between the two of them, the non-stop pounding of happy, everyday citizens all around them almost mocking the dangerous situation with its cheer.

" **So tell me. Right now.** _ **Have you broken one of my rules?**_ "

Raven, not trusting her voice, could only shake her head slowly.

" **Good. Now, I better now ask for a third time, Raven."** The wind rustled and dragged a few leaves on the ground as the horsemen dragged out his next sentence. " **What. Do. You. Want?"**

Something in its tone sparked a change in the bandit leader. ' _He's… interested.'_ That one thought sparked a subtle change in her entire demeanor as everything fell back into plan. It'd been risky, and the fact that the _abomination_ knew where they all were hiding had throw her off. It didn't matter now. She had power. She had leverage.

She had something he wanted.

And for now, that was enough to ensure that her goals could be achieved.

"I haven't broken any of your little _rules_ ," She began with a smirk. "In fact, I'm here to help you, _little_ brother."

Crow didn't say anything. He didn't have to though. His silence spoke volumes. Raven Branwen held his interest captive.

She was like a shark that smelled blood, and he was her prey.

"You're harboring a monster, and you didn't even know it."

* * *

Throngs of people flocked around from one place to another all around a certain trio of hunters' kids. Somehow, Yang and her two little siblings had gotten themselves shifted to the center of a maelstrom of happy madness. At this point, the girl with lilac eyes couldn't even see the area that her uncle had walked off to.

Something wasn't right.

Yang definitely knew something wasn't right. Her hair had started to frizzle, and that was never a good sign. Uncle Qrow should've been back by now.

A tug on the hem of her shirt made her look down to see a worried-looking little boy with orange-ish hair staring up at her. At 9 years old, she was practically head and shoulders over the 7 year old Kit, who still hadn't even gotten taller than Ruby yet.

" **Yang? Where's Uncle Qrow?"**

His big, worried eyes cut straight through her. Before she knew it, her arms had pulled him in, his head on her chest. His fox ears folded down as she rested her chin on top of his head just past them. She knew he could still hear her through his human ones. "Uncle Qrow's gonna be right back, kiddo. You'll see. Everything's gonna be just fine."

The blonde also knew that every word that came out of her mouth was a lie. Something was wrong. So very, _very wrong._

Her hair had never started frizzling this badly before.

Maybe it was because she'd been worried so much that she'd paid more attention than normal, maybe there'd been just a small lull in the cheery voices around them, or maybe the two people had been just a _little_ louder than everyone else. Whatever it was, her hair had been proven right again as she _heard_ before she actually saw the two lanky men with piercings and tattoos.

"Where the f*ck are those brats, D?" A man with piercings in his ears and the outline of a bird covering his face in a warpaint tattoo.

"If I knew, then I would've said somethin' a'ready, Z! Now shut up and keep lookin'. Boss wants those kids found NOW!" The other man heatedly fired back. His red mohawk contrasted with the black warpaint around his eyes.

If anyone from the kingdom of Mistral were here, they'd have recognized the Branwen Tribe's Bandit garb. Styled in shades of red, black and grey, the both of them looked like walking stereotypes of raiders, ravagers or bandits.

Yang hoped that she'd just heard wrong, but looking over at Ruby's face made her realize that she hadn't. Her little sister's eyes were panicked.

The brawler didn't know why there were weirdos looking for them, but she wasn't going to take any chances. She and Ruby looked at each other, and something passed between them. Yang didn't have Kit and Ruby's "twin telepathy" (which she still didn't believe was real!), but she didn't need it for something like this.

They were both big sisters. They knew what they had to do.

Silver eyes firmed with resolve as they locked onto lilac ones. Yang bent down and held her little brother's face in her hands. "Hey, since it looks like Uncle Qrow's gonna be on the can for awhile, why don't we go have some fun, huh?" She gave him the best smile she could manage.

Seeing the trust in his eyes as he gave an excited grin and nodded didn't make her feel any better about lying to him.

"Well come on then, slowpoke!" She said as she grabbed his left hand with her right. Ruby came up and grabbed her younger twin's right hand with her left, Yang giving her the scroll that their uncle had given her earlier as she passed by. "Hey Rubes, why don't you call Uncle Qrow and let him know where we're going, ok?"

You could call Ruby a lot of things. Innocent, fun-loving, and a bit of a bro-con. Calling her naive wouldn't have been true, though. She gave her sister a small nod.

They were in trouble, and Uncle Qrow needed to know.

The three of them ran off, each of the sisters dragging their brother along by one of his hands. Neither of the two sisters saw that Kit's fox ears had twitched.

* * *

 **Famine** of the 4 Horsemen was…. Intrigued. Raven had caught his interest, and held it captive.

That little smirk on her face meant that she knew it, too.

Her whole being had practically changed in an instant. Whereas before he could practically smell her fear, now she radiated a kind of confidence that only came when someone had the upper hand and knew it.

Qrow Branwen would've loved to wipe that smug look right off the bat. When it came to himself though, the Alter was fine with it. She could be as smug as long as she wanted, assuming Crow got what _he_ wanted.

He looked into her eyes, knowing that it unsettled most to be stared at by him. "Continue." He demanded.

"My, my. Don't tell me you're as impatient as your other half, now." She teased.

Crow Branwen scowled. If there was one thing he _hated_ , it was being anything like the buffoon that was Qrow. They both knew it, too.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything while she still held leverage over him. If the information that she had wasn't satisfying enough though… well there was more than one way to gain satisfaction.

Just like there was more than one way to skin a cat.

Sensing that he was close to hitting the limit of his tolerance, Raven knew that she couldn't keep holding it over his head for much longer. "Qrow already knows that the story of the 4 seasons is true," She began. "Have you ever wondered, though, about what other myths, legends and folk-tales might also be real?"

Crow's scroll went off and was immediately silenced. He didn't care who it was or what they wanted.

He had his priorities.

* * *

Something was _wrong_. Kit knew there was definitely something wrong. His tail was bristling. Kit always trusted his tail. It didn't always warn him when something bad was happening, but he always listened when it did.

The younger twin looked on as he saw his older (not that he'd ever admit it) twin share a look with their older sister and shake her head slowly. Something passed between them, kind of like what he had with Ruby, before they started running even faster.

Then he realized what was wrong.

 **They weren't looking at him.**

Both of his sisters _knew_ that he hated it when they were trying not to look at him! It wasn't like he could actually talk, after all. You could only talk to someone with VSL if they were looking at you, and even his twin-thingy with Ruby only happened when they were looking at each other!

Even his twin wasn't looking!

' _Wait… she's not looking at me?'_ There was only one reason why even his twin was trying her hardest not to look him in the eye. ' _She's… trying to hide something from me?'_ What was it, though?

Kit's fox ears twitched, right as Ruby crashed into someone.

They stopped for a second. Kit could hear his twin apologize to the person that she'd knocked down, some other kid. All of it faded into the background though, as Kit's faunus ears had picked something up.

"There they are, D! The 3 brats are over there!"

"Well don't just stand there yelling. Get them!"

 _ **THUD.**_ Somebody was chasing after them. _**THUD.**_ Chasing after _him_.

His blood ran cold. **Chasing.** The sound of waves crashing filled his ears! _**Chasing**_ **.** There were people after him! _**CHASING!**_

Quick as a flash, Kit suddenly broke out into a sprint.

 _ **The trees were everywhere, every single one of them trying to trip him up. They would've too, if this had been the first time he ran through them. It'd only been a few weeks, but he was already able to duck, dodge, dip and weave through them. Mom had been so proud of how easy he'd made it seem.**_

 _ **He ran faster. Some trees he weaved around, some of them seemed to move out of his way. Why wasn't he moving faster? He always moved faster than this.**_

 _ **The birds had gone silent. They always did when he was being chased. They always flew away whenever he needed them. They never helped him when he was being chased.**_

' _ **CAVE!' It was a little far, but he was getting closer to it now. They wouldn't find him there if they didn't see him go in.**_

 _ **And…. NOW!**_

 _ **He suddenly dashed to his left and dove into the cave.**_

 _ **He was safe….**_

 _ **Wait.**_

 _ **Something was coming into his cave.**_

 _ **IT SAW HIM GO IN. IT FOLLOWED HIM HERE!**_

 _ **His eyes were burning. Pain.**_ **Why did it hurt?** _ **It stepped closer, he could feel it coming up from the entrance behind him.**_ **God, it hurts!** _ **He could hear it coming closer, and closer.**_

 _ **He didn't want to die. He didn't want to die!**_

 _ **He spun around, the pain in his eyes seemed to just**_ **burst** _ **, and light flooded out-**_

"-it! Kit!"

The light faded, and he saw someone with blonde hair standing in front of him, chest heaving. Who was she? Why did she look worried? Why did he not like it when she was so worried?

Sudden as it came, the confusion passed. 3 words flashed through his head, the clarity making of those words making everything that just happened feel so murky, like a bad dream that was already being forgotten.

' _Yang.'_

' _Sister.'_

' _Safe.'_

Before he knew it, he'd leapt into her arms, crying. It wouldn't stop. The water wouldn't stop falling from his eyes. His chest wouldn't stop catching like he was hiccuping, his throat hurt like that time he was sick.

Kit kept his head buried in her chest, not moving even when he felt someone else's arms wrap around him. He could tell that it was Ruby. He could always tell when it was Ruby.

The youngest sibling could hear his older sisters say something to each other as they comforted him.

"Can you try calling Uncle Qrow again, Rubes? If he doesn't pick up this time, just call Dad. Tell him it's an emergency."

"I can't, Yang. I dropped it when I bumped into that one kid with the collapsible staff. I couldn't pick it up before we had to run again from those guys." Ruby unentangled herself from the awkward group hug that they were all in. He could feel her moving in the direction that they'd all come from. "I don't see those creepy guys anymore, Yang. I think they probably ran past us. It's a good thing Kit spotted this alleyway and dove into it, or they might've caught us by now."

* * *

Unknown to any of them, the only reason that 3 kids had outrun 2 full-grown adults with bandit training was, ironically, because they had been dressed like bandits. The same outfits that had terrified people back in Mistral and sent them running away, had excited kids and their families into running _towards_ them instead.

Apparently dressing up as a bandit in Deez Knee Land made people think you were part of an attraction. Who knew?

* * *

"Let's get out of here for now, Rubes. We'll get away from here and find some police or hunters and use their phones to call Dad. I don't know what happened to Uncle Qrow, but we'll figure it out once we're safe." The blonde sister to two unwrapped her arms from around her kid brother. Kneeling down so that she was level with him, she held his face in her hands. "Hey, Kit. You okay now?"

Her younger brother nodded his head, nose still a little runny. His tears were still drying, with his eyes red, but she could tell that he was trying to be brave.

It made her want to find the people that had made her brother so scared and punch them in the face, but she knew that now wasn't the time for that.

"Glad to hear it. How about we get out of here, huh?" She smiled as he nodded back to her. Ruby came back from scouting the entrance to the alleyway that they'd came from, and they all headed towards the other side where the exit was.

They didn't get far.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Comment if you have something to say, or if you think something could've been better.**


	10. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** November's release.

* * *

"Well, well. What do we have here?" The 3 kids jumped as a deep, male voice rang out from the exit that they'd been heading towards as a man stepped out of nowhere, blocking the way out. His creepy voice amplified as it almost seemed to echo in the alley.

Yang immediately made them spin the three of them around to try and head back the way they came from, but someone else stepped out of the shadows and blocked that exit as well.

"I'd say that our luck just took a turn for the better, am I right, Azure?" A higher pitched voice, this time from a woman rang out. Kit wanted to pay attention to the woman in front of him, but his fox ears twitched, and he heard the sound of the man from behind them walking slowly towards them.

Looking behind them, he saw a huge, bodybuilder of a man walking step-by-step closer. His dark blue clothes only seemed to make him all that more dangerous as he almost blended in with the shadows of the alley. Kit couldn't look away.

Unknown to Kit, the reason why he couldn't take his eyes off of the man, Azure, was because of the instincts that he'd honed when he'd lived in the forest by himself after the rest of his real family had been killed. Although it had been 4 years since then, instincts were not something that could be easily lost! Even though they'd been dulled by the years of living in a safe environment, Kit's instincts were still easily able to pick up the dangerous aura that was radiating off of the man in front of them!

An arm went up in front of him, pushing him closer to the wall. "Kit, Ruby get behind me!" His older sister was already putting herself in front of her two younger siblings, glaring at the man on the left before glaring at the woman on the right, trying to make them scared.

She was already failing. They were coming from both ends, which meant that she had to split her attention between the massive hulk that was Azure, and the slim beauty that Yang somehow knew was just as dangerous.

Azure chuckled darkly in agreement at his partner's rhetorical question as he finally came to a stop. He was close enough to be a threat but far enough to give the illusion that the kids weren't within striking distance. The thought made him grin, fully displaying his teeth to the kids. They'd been sharpened and filed down into points like a shark's teeth, which only made his smile even more terrifying to them. His twisted glee grew as the three kids visibly _flinched_ at the sight of his teeth. Oh, he _really_ loved the fear people had at the sight of him.

Especially when it came from kids. _Their_ fear was the best.

"I think you're right, Auburn. It's _definitely_ our lucky day." He jerked his head to get his partner's attention. "So, how much you think we can get for'em?"

The lady, Auburn, paused in thought. Her heels stopped clicking against the dirty pavement of the alley as she, too, gave just enough space that the little brats could delude themselves into thinking that she couldn't possibly reach them from this distance. Her entire outfit was black, from her blouse to her _tantalizingly_ short skirt. They were all various shades of dark as Auburn loved to wear clothes that matched her midnight-colored hair. Just from her outfit alone, you could tell that unlike her brute of a partner though, Auburn was clearly not the type to punch her way out of a situation.

No, her talents lay… _elsewhere_ , and the sidearm strapped to the outside of her right thigh was proof of that. She didn't miss. Ever. Her semblance, [Homing Bullet], made sure that any bullet she shot would always find its way to the target.

There was also another reason why Azure always deferred to her when it came time to calculating the risks, and more importantly the _worth_ , of their targets. The dark blue Hulk was definitely the brawns, but she was the brains of the operation. Auburn didn't have the strange fetish that her partner had, but she had other reasons for loving what they did.

Namely, the money.

She could easily calculate how much others would be willing to pay for certain… _products_ , which came in handy in situations like these where she had to quickly decide whether or not it was worth it to capture their targets. As Auburn quickly looked over their soon-to-be-acquired merchandise, figures immediately popped into her head.

' _3 products, 2 girls and a boy. All 3 are young and healthy, with one that looks to be around 9-10, while the other two look to be about 2-3 years younger. Good.'_

It only took less than a few seconds for her to have decided that these kids were _definitely_ a necessity. Auburn was always more than a little wary when it came down to kidnapping children, what with how they were always so frustratingly near people who would be willing to lay down their lives to protect them, but the danger made it so that they could be sold for a _LOT_ more lien.

And when those same kids didn't have any parental figures around? Less risk with still the same massive rewards.

The thought of all those lien cards made her salivate as she looked towards the kids, no, _the merchandise_ , with a predatory gaze.

' _The blonde one is clearly feisty with anger issues. Blondes always go for a high price, and Markov will DEFINITELY want this one. With how young she is as well as her attitude, he'll have_ _ **fun**_ _breaking her.'_ Auburn's eyes slid over to the two younger siblings behind the 9-year-old. Even though the three brats weren't that too similar in looks, she could definitely tell that they were related with how protective they were of each other. Little blondie was up front and ready to protect the other brats, while the slightly taller of the two behind her, a girl, almost looked like she was ready to push their brother behind her despite the fact that she was shaking.

It was her eyes though, no… _their_ eyes that caught her attention. Both the black-haired girl in red and the orange-haired faunus frozen in fear had _silver eyes_. "Azure," She called out, making the man in dark blue look at her with a growing sense of excitement. It made sense. After all, her voice was already getting that slightly higher pitched tone that Auburn always got when they were about to score big time. "We're about to make the score of a _LIFETIME_! Together, those brats huddling behind little blondie are worth _**100 TIMES**_ more than what we'd get from Markov for the girl in yellow!"

Auburn had heard rumors of someone up in Atlas that would pay good money for… interesting specimens. And she had a feeling that he would do _more_ than just pay a _good_ amount of money.

After all, he was _The Scientist_.

She didn't need to say anything more, though. Azure's eyes were wide open in shock, before his face took on a _pervertedly gentle_ look towards the kids that almost made them faint from fear. He loved being feared and could've kept them around just to keep that delicious emotion in supply, but Markov was always generous enough when they sold him feisty merchandise like the 9-year-old in front of him. So being worth _100 TIMES_ more than the usual was saying something.

If they got this done right, they could retire with _**tens of millions of lien**_ swimming around in their bank account. Just from selling the two brats with silver eyes!

Forget making them fear for their lives! For the first time in his life, Azure put aside his fetish of being the scariest thing in the room and put the job before his own desires. "Don't worry little brats -uh, kids," He said with a cough as he tried to cover his slip-up. "We're not going to hurt you. Why don't you come with us? We'll take you to someplace _fun_." Azure said with a tone so fake, even his partner Auburn shivered in disgust as he mentioned his "fun".

She couldn't help but facepalm at (regrettably) her partner's attempt. ' _Honestly, how_ _ **stupid**_ _is he? Even if you didn't mention the fact that we literally just mentioned how much we were going to sell them for, what kid would go anywhere with a man with shark teeth that talks about how much "fun" they're going to have?!'_ Letting out a sigh at the obvious reminder as to why _she_ was the brains of the operation, the alley came back into view as she let her hand fall back down to her side, where it could easily snap her gun out of the holster with a twitch.

Focused as she was on her partner's stupidity, and the fact that she'd had her sight covered by her hand just a little bit ago, Auburn didn't realize that a pair of silver eyes had noticed the gun strapped to her thighs.

Azure didn't miss his partner's reaction to his words but he didn't care. What mattered was how the brats took it.

But…. He could tell as he stepped forward with a hand outstretched that his words had spooked the kids even further as the 2 kids in back visibly cringed and tried to shrink themselves even further behind their older sister. Normally that's what he would've been aiming for, but this time it was just annoying!

He'd screwed up somehow.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Crow Branwen asked his Alter's sister, eyebrows furrowed. Everything he'd just heard was more than a little unbelievable. In fact, it was impossible.

And the only reason why he was even considering it was because he'd once thought the Maidens of the four seasons to be impossible as well.

"Would I even consider telling _you_ of all people if I wasn't sure?" Raven asked her brother's darker persona. "We both know that you hate being lied to."

He couldn't deny that logic.

"The only reason I'm even telling you about this is because I didn't want there to be any… _misunderstandings_." She continued. "You have your rules, and I respect that."

The Horseman went silent in thought.

It wasn't long before he came to a conclusion. "I won't help you, but I won't get involved either. The most I'll do for you is give you a 10 second head start before I let Qrow take the reins."

Raven's lips pursed.

"And before you say anything else," Crow interrupted, "I already know that you've sidelined me. You've been stalling, trying to make sure neither Qrow or I get there in time. So you've got 10 seconds on top of whatever time you gained up till now."

There was nothing else the bandit leader could do except nod her head. "Fine." Turning back around, she sliced the air open and walked through the portal, disappearing without another word.

Crow snorted. "Uppity b*tch." Looking around, none of the happy-go-lucky passersby had noticed anything out of the ordinary. The only thing they saw had probably been two siblings having a conversation.

The Alter lay down and got comfortable. It'd take about 10 seconds for Qrow to take over anyway. _He'd_ be going back to sleep, waiting until the next time the drunk idiot needed him again.

It wasn't long before Qrow Branwen woke up.

* * *

' _What the hell just happened?'_ Checking his pockets to make sure everything was still there, he tried to figure out why he'd been on the ground. ' _I'm at some kind of family entertainment place…. Right, I was babysitting the three tykes and showing them around Vale. At least, until I saw that feather...'_

The thought bounced around in his skull before he pulled out scroll and saw the missed call from Yang. ' _Shit, did something happen?!'_ Calling Yang's scroll didn't get him a response. There was a bad feeling in his gut, and this time, there was no way it was from Tai's cooking.

A crow took to the skies, looking for family. He prayed that everything was alright and that he wouldn't be too late.

* * *

Everything was not alright.

"GET AWAY FROM US YOU CREEP!" The blonde girl literally _exploded_ , her eyes turning blood-red as her hair seemed to catch on fire.

He and his partner looked at each other and had the same thought.

' _Shit.'_

It definitely wasn't because of how much noise the blondie was making. Azure's semblance, [Silence of the Damned], made it so that sound was limited to a certain range when chasing down any that he considered prey. Sound was the least of their problems. It wasn't even because she'd gotten a little more dangerous. Flaming hair or not, she was still a little girl, one that Azure was sure he'd be able to take down in a matter of seconds.

No. It was because of the fact that the _little girl_ had a semblance. That meant only one thing.

' _Hunters' kids.'_

Where there were Hunters' kids, there were _Hunters_. That was the ironclad rule. Hunters, having seen the best and the worst of humanity and faunus while on their crusade against the Grimm were paranoid to a fault about their kids.

If you thought crime lords were bad; if you thought rapists, serial murderers or terrorists were downright vengeful, then you'd never seen a Hunter whose kids got hurt.

Mistralian Hunters were infamous in the underworld for dragging anyone that touched their families to the shores of Anima. They'd wait and lure in a specific grimm that looked like a monstrous version of a starfish. They'd stick one end of it in you (and it gave new meaning to the words "bottoms up") and then they'd cut off that part from the rest of the original Grimm. It would take a _long_ time for you to die; the part still in you would crawl deeper and regrow by literally eating you from the inside-out. You'd stay alive the whole time, it'd make sure of that. You were its living buffet, after all. You'd thank god for when it finally ate its way out of your body, just so you'd finally die.

And that's if you got the nicer Hunters that still had a bit of humanity left. The worst monsters weren't the Grimm. _People_ always made the worst monsters.

People with special powers had to experiment in order to find the best ways to use them, after all. People with special powers and Hunter's training? _They got creative_.

It didn't even matter whose kid it was. If _any_ Hunter saw you messing with another Hunter's kid, well, enough said.

Azure forced out a laugh as he pretended that the little brat having powers didn't faze him at all. Luckily, none of the kids noticed a thing. "I'll tell you what, _blondie_ ," The shark-toothed man said with a sneer. "You manage to beat me and we'll let you go."

Yang turned her head to look at the woman with black hair, who nodded in agreement, before quickly turning back towards Azure. "I'll kick your butt!"

If she'd turned her head back a split-second faster, she might've noticed the silent exchange between the two human traffickers.

' _They're Hunters' kids! You sure there weren't any nearby?!'_ Azure sent to his partner with a silent glare. Everybody knew messing with _those kids_ was a death sentence.

' _I'm positive!'_ Auburn practically yelled back in the same silent exchange. ' _Even_ _ **you're**_ _not stupid enough to mess with Hunters' kids.'_

' _So? What now? Worth the risk or what?'_

A quick flick of her eyes towards the two still huddled behind the older brat had her licking her lips. On the one hand, if she and Azure were caught, it would be worse than a death sentence.

On the other hand, that much lien was a once-in-a-lifetime chance….

* * *

There was a saying that perfectly described this kind of situation. Animals died for food, people died for wealth.

* * *

Her eyes hardened as she came to a quick decision. With a small nod and a series of quick blinks that wouldn't have been noticed by anyone that hadn't worked with her for as long as Azure had, she gave her orders. ' _Do it. Plan B!'_

 **Plan B: Exhaust the target quickly, then knock them out before abducting them.**

Plan B made use of the fact that no one would be able to hear the conflict, due to Azure's semblance, [Silence of the Damned], stifling all sound past the area that he'd designated. The targets that they pursued either didn't have an active lifestyle (high-profile targets such as politicians and leaders) or didn't have above average levels of stamina (cripples, scientists, and children) so by having them fight Azure in the belief that they'd be let go, the targets would exhaust themselves and make it far easier to kidnap.

Yang, being the 9 year old kid that she was, completely missed out on the entire silent exchange which took less than two seconds. All she knew was that there was a way out!

Azure snorted at the little blonde's shout. "Well, what're you waiting for? Aren't you gonna _kick my butt_?" He raised his hands in mock fright. "Oh no! Please don't hurt me, sir!" The hulk laughed.

Yang _**raged**_ as she shot off like a fireball, throwing punch after punch at the man that stood between her and her little brother and sister's safety.

The large bodybuilder just kept laughing as each punch landed in his palm harmlessly.

Taken out of context, any random passerby would've just thought that it was a man teaching his daughter boxing. The man raised his hands, and the daughter punched right into them like it was all scripted.

Azure couldn't stop laughing. Fear was great, but this was just hilarious! "Sir! Sir! You're hurting me!" He laughed in between every mocking word that came out of his mouth. His dark blue garb making him seem like some monster that had come up from some strange nightmare.

Auburn looked on, each second that passed made her more and more nervous. Anyone looking would've seen a confident Mistress of the Dark, as her clothing would suggest, but anyone that knew her could see the signs. She was having second thoughts, but it was already too late. Every second that passed meant another second that they could be discovered.

And she did _NOT_ want to find out what kind of sick torture Vale's Hunters had in store for people like them. She had enough nightmares after hearing about the Mistralian Hunters. "Azure, hurry the f*ck up already!" She called out.

The man in blue looked up at her. "Yeah, yeah, give me a sec. I'm having a helluva lotta fun!"

Looking up was a mistake.

Yang wasn't Hunter-grade material yet, but Dad had already taught her to look for openings. And she was the kind of girl that would definitely take advantage of it.

Quicker than the blue hulk could react, she closed in and punched right between the man's legs, before making sure to grab the dangly bits in a vice. The hulk squealing like a little pig was definitely a sight to see.

"That's right, you better call me 'Sir!'"

Auburn couldn't believe her eyes. "AZURE!" Her hand immediately went straight to the gun strapped to her thigh. With a twitch, she'd have the gun in hand and shoot the girl full of holes!

But when she went for her gun, the holster was empty…

And it was in the hands of a black-haired, silver-eyed brat!

Ruby's chest was heaving, her eyes wide open, and it wasn't because she'd used her semblance.

She had a gun.

She was strong.

She could save Kit and Yang and be a hero!

"Little girl, you better give me that weapon or else-"

Auburn didn't have the chance to say anything else before a blood and bone burst out in a small explosion. The little brat shot her in the f*cking knee! She wasn't someone new to the game though. A little pain and a bullet to the knee wouldn't stop her. She wasn't built like Azure, but she was more than strong enough to send a kid flying.

With a backhanded fist, the silverette's aura broke in a shower of red sparks and the brat was sent flying to the alley wall. Her cry of pain was cut short as her head hit the wall, _hard._

 **Kit saw his twin sister's blood pooling from the back of her head out onto the ground.**

Yang's head jerked and she looked back at Ruby's cry of pain.

Her grip loosened…. And Azure noticed. Smacking her hand away, he immediately grabbed the blonde's head and smashed it into the ground. Her aura shone, but held.

Barely.

 **Kit saw his older sister with her head smashed into the ground, a man with shark-like teeth grinning.**

 **He saw both of his sisters in trouble… and** _ **CRACKED**_.

The orange-haired faunus was lifted up into the air, and both of the would-be kidnapper's eyes followed him. Cocooned in an orange light, both Azure and Auburn had to shield their eyes from the glare. It pulsed, before breaking open in a wave of heat

The wind and heat ruffled both of their clothes as both the blue-clad hulk and the black-clad mistress looked on.

In the cocoon's place was a kitsune.

Not an orange-haired faunus with fox ears and a tail.

 _This was a kitsune._ Reddish-orange fur covered its humanoid body, a single tail swished in the air behind it. A fox's face had replaced the visage of a 7-year-old boy's features.

""What the hell are you?""

The words slipped out of their mouths unknowingly.

The _**monster**_ , because there was no way that anyone could mistake _that_ for a human or faunus, looked down on them as it floated a few feet off the ground. It said only three words.

" **ALPHA FOX DEMON."**

Before the last syllable had rang out, it was in front of Azure.

It hadn't teleported, it'd moved so fast that neither of the two kidnappers had seen it.

The **Demon** , as it called itself, had a hand buried inside of the blue-clad hulk's chest. There was the sound of something _ripping_ , before the kitsune removed his hand from the man's chest. The body fell backwards, and the reddish-orange fox was left looking at his own fist.

It was gripping a dark-blue silhouette that was the same size as the man it had been ripped from. If there was such a thing as a fox smiling, that was what would've been on the kitsune's face as it stared at the dark-blue, _**hunger**_ in its eyes.

If the thing had been corporeal, what happened next would've been downright messy.

When it was over, the kitsune set its eyes on the one that had _dared_ to hurt its twin sister.

Auburn tried to run, but there was no way that she could've with only one good leg left. She tried to scream, but there was no one that could hear her after she'd been ripped from her body.

The kitsune found that, surprisingly, her purple soul tasted a lot like grape soda.

With the two souls devoured, it looked up into the sky and **ROARED**. Three tails now swished behind it as the kitsune turned to look at its siblings. It wasn't worried about others hearing it. Somehow, it knew that no one could hear it.

But it was confused. _It_ knew that the two girls on the ground weren't its siblings. But they _were_ its siblings.

It cocked its head to the side, studying the two laying on the ground. It felt that its time was short, both for itself and the ones on the ground.

The fox decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. He was sure that they weren't its siblings, but they still felt like his siblings. With but a thought, balls of fire lit up on each of his three tails. He flicked them forward, two of them landing on a black-haired girl in a pool of her own blood ( _Ruby_ , her name came to mind) and the other landing on a blonde-haired girl who had been knocked unconscious ( _Yang_ , his older sister).

Both lit up in flames, before the fire died down and revealed his two sisters in a _much_ better condition than they were before. Not completely healed, but enough that both could be saved.

Suddenly, the kitsune crashed onto the ground.

He wasn't strong enough to keep afloat.

He collapsed, completely unconscious. His three tails merged back into one, the orange fur receded back to the top of his head. The fox face melted away like a mirage, and all that was left was Kit Xiao-Long, the fox faunus.

That's exactly the state that Qrow Branwen found all three of his brother-in-law's kids.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

It's official, I hate October. I got a ticket, caught the flu so bad that I was out for a week and had to miss 2 work shifts (not good, since it was my 2nd week working there), I got assaulted...by a gate of all things, then the very next day I got into a car accident and subsequently had to quit my job (can't be a pizza delivery driver without a car).

So sorry October, your promise of free candy on the 31st isn't enough to make me not hate you.

Anyway, that's why I didn't post anything last month. I've posted last month's chapter and this month's chapter. Next one will be sometime December (unless I get a sudden burst of inspiration).

Also, feel free to hate me for what I've done to these poor, innocent kids, lol.

 **Comment if you've got something to say, or see something that could've been done better.**


	11. Book 2 Chapter 1

_It was the big day. Silver eyes locked onto silver eyes, and with a nod at the other, both Black and Orange walked into the building. The things that would go on to happen in the next 3 years at Signal Academy, no one could possibly have predicted._

* * *

"When I call out your name, raise your hand and let me know if you're here." A balding, middle-aged man said, squinting at a list of names on his clipboard. "Aero, Lux."

"Here!"

"Noon, Hestia."

"Present!"

The list continued on for several more names, all of which blurred together and were thoroughly ignored by anyone whose name wasn't called. No one bothered to notice that the names weren't even called out in a particular order.

"Lavender, Amethyst."

"Actually, people call me _Levi_." Said girl with purple hair pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, the lenses glinting as they caught the light for a moment. "I don't answer to any other name."

"Thorn, Ruben." The teacher continued calling names from his list in an order only he could understand.

"Hah!" A red-haired 12 year old pointed at the girl sitting next to him. "Teach just totally ignored you." The girl in the desk next to him just gave him a knowing smile as she once again pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. The light that glinted off her lenses was quickly cut off by a shadow covering Ruben's face.

"Do I need to give you detention on the first day of school, Mr. Thorn?" A voice with a steely undertone rang out. With a sinking feeling in his gut, Ruben slowly creaked his head towards the sound. At the sight of their teacher glaring down like a demon, the red-haired boy quickly bowed his head.

"No, sir. I'm sorry." He meekly said.

If Ruben had kept his head up, he might've seen something which would've sent him into a rage.

' _All according to plan.'_ Levi smirked.

Somewhat satisfied, but still casting a small glare in the boy's direction, the middle-aged teacher kept going down his list. "Rose, Ruby."

…..

Heads turned and looked around the room. There was only one thought on their minds.

The balding man took his eyes off of the clipboard. " _Rose_ , Ruby." He said again, with an emphasis.

…..

One by one, all the heads in the room had all turned to look at two particular people that were sitting near the back of the room with their heads flat on their desks. "Mmm, cookies…" One of the two mumbled, drool flowing freely.

As the center of authority in the room passed them by, each of the students found themselves in a cold sweat, his footsteps thudding loudly in their ears, all the way until he was right next to the two sleeping beauties. At that moment, a particularly loud snore burst out from the black-haired caped wonder.

Everything was silent, the only sound disrupting the peace being the sound of a very large, very angry vein popping out from the teacher's forehead.

"ROSE! RUBY!" The man shouted as he slammed his hands down on a nearby empty desk.

""EEEP!"" The two shot their heads up faster than a gunshot.

"Here!" Ruby frantically said.

The balding man snapped his head to the fox faunus that was now sitting with his back almost painfully rigid. "XIAO-LONG! KIT!"

"Here, sir!"

"GOOD!" The man yelled back in a decidedly _not_ good manner. His fiery temper didn't burn out at all as he made his way back to the front of the room. "And now that we all know you're here, let's get started. This class will be your homeroom for the rest of the year, _and if you're lucky,_ you'll get to have the same class with me next year as well."

A drop of sweat slid down their foreheads as the students all thought the same thing. ' _We'll be lucky if we_ _ **don't**_ _have you next year.'_ Unknown to them at the time, **every** class that had had Mr. Sands as their teacher always had that exact same thought on the first day of the school year. He wasn't known as the Sand Demon for nothing.

And for that same reason, no one had ever dared to say that thought to his face.

"In any case," Mr. Sands boomed. "Welcome to Signal Academy!" He finished with a glare to his new pupils for the year, causing more than half of the class to flinch. Without a doubt, it was the most _unwelcoming_ welcome that anyone had ever received… or it would be if Mr. Sands hadn't been the welcoming instructor for every new batch of students for the past 30 years.

Clearly someone had made a mistake somewhere and just figured it would be better to never address the reason why they'd made the angriest teacher in the school also be the person to greet each batch of new students. That "someone" was Naval Rivers, who through a series of legal technicalities and lack of anyone more "qualified", had been made Principal straight out of High School alongside many of his peers who were made to become teachers in the very same Academy he now presided over.

….In defense of the people who made that decision, the only other candidate had been Mr. Sands. Of course, they immediately regretted having done so when said newly-appointed Principal's first act had been to put the "Sand Demon" in charge of welcoming each new batch of students.

' _I don't like our new teacher. He's loud.'_ Kit mentally complained to his sister as he covered his faunus ears. ' _Signal's a lot different from our old school.'_

' _Cheer up, Kit. It's not like he's gonna be the teacher for_ all _our classes.'_ Ruby sent back. ' _Uncle Qrow's gonna be teaching one of'em. Yang said so!'_ She smiled. ' _Plus, Mr. Sands can't be angry_ all _the time.'_

They both turned back to the front where their teacher was still talking.

"...other classes that you'll be taking throughout your years at Signal Academy include Weapon Smithing and Mechanics, Dust Engineering, and Integrated Combat." The Sand Demon spat out, as every word only made his face redden even more.

Kit turned back to his sister with a raised eyebrow.

Ruby practically deflated. ' _Ok, maybe he_ can _be mad all the time.'_ She sighed as she sent that last thought back to her brother. Things had been tougher for them since Yang had started Signal two years ago. Their big sis hadn't been around at their school anymore to stop anyone from picking on them. Still, they'd gotten through it together. And even if Yang couldn't stop the bullies during school, she more than made up for it with a beatdown after school was over.

Since they were almost kidnapped 5 years ago, they'd obviously stuck together like glue.

Her sister, Yang, got weirder and started putting in dirty moves into her boxing style. Their older sister used to be fine whenever she and Kit would go places without her (even if it was never anywhere far). Now, Yang was always hovering over them like a hawk, glaring at anyone that even got anywhere near close to them.

….It was hard making new friends when your big sis cracked her knuckles if someone they didn't know got close. Aqua and Ash were the only ones that she'd let near the three of them, since they were already friends.

Yang even made the three of them hold hands anytime they stepped out of the house! Ruby was already 12, holding hands with your big sis in public was embarrassing!

….Now that Ruby thought of it, maybe it was a good thing that Yang started Signal while they'd stayed behind for a couple years, if it meant that she and Kit wouldn't have to deal with her weirdness during school. Even if the bullies had started picking on them afterwards, it was still better than Yang's embarrassing mothering.

Their older sister wasn't the only one to change. Ruby knew that she, herself, had turned into a little bit of a gun nut (only a little bit!), but it wasn't something that she could help. Every time she saw a weapon or a gun, she'd get that feeling like that day in the alley. A rush in her veins, goosebumps down her spine, as she shot the bad guys that were trying to take them all away. Uncle Qrow had shown up soon after she'd saved them all, and had taken the _villains_ to jail where they would never hurt anyone again. Since then, she'd always made sure to brush up on all the latest weapons and guns.

As for her twin brother, Kit….

Ruby's eyes slid back over to her orange-haired younger brother. He was the one that changed the most out of the three of them. He was her partner-in-crime! The other half of the amazing duo that still made people in their old school tremble when they heard their nickname, "The Twin Cookie Monsters"! He was… he was…

He was different now. Colder. He didn't laugh or smile as much as he used to, and it hurt. Sometimes, she almost felt like she didn't know who her twin was anymore. The two of them had always been together, had always known everything about each other. They even had twin powers for Oum's sake!

A hand waving past her eyes made her snap out of it. " _Ruby,_ " Her brother sighed. " _You were staring at me._ Again _. Did you want to talk about it?_ "

Heat rushed to her cheeks as she got caught. "N-no, I d-dunno what you're talking about." Before her could say something weird like "you're still staring", Ruby quickly turned her head back to face Mr. Sands. She definitely wasn't blushing either!

She heard her brother giggling beside her. "And that's why you're not older than me. I _told you_ two minutes doesn't count." He whispered.

Faster than a gunshot, Ruby whipped her head back towards her brother, gasping, with her hand over her mouth. _HOW DARE HE?!_ Two minutes **did** count! She **is** the older one! Before she said anything though, she caught sight of her ( _little!_ ) brother's teasing smile and turned her head back to the front of the class. "I'm not going to play these childish games with you, _little brother_. I'm an amazing, mature, older sister."

She could practically hear his jaw drop as she managed to win another battle. Being an older sibling rocked!

….Of course as soon as she saw that their teacher was looking somewhere else, she still turned her head and quickly stuck her tongue out at her twin.

It made him giggle so hard that they were almost caught by "The Sand Demon", Mr. Sands! With a satisfied smile on her face, Ruby thought to herself that she was glad that even though Kit had changed a lot, he still sometimes acted like he used to.

There _was_ one thing that stuck with her in the back of her head though. Were Kit's eyes _purple_ just now?

... _Nah_ , she was definitely just seeing things. Kit was her twin, especially when it came down to their silver eyes.

Having finished with her internal dilemma, Ruby then did the scariest thing that every student in the school has gone through at one point: Mr. Sands' angry explanations of the "wonderful and amazing classes that Signal Academy provides!"

* * *

Prep Schools catered to those wanting to become Police Officers, Politicians, Scientists, Doctors or Hunters. Although it was never directly stated, these 5 careers were widely considered the most important careers throughout the Kingdom of Vale. Although it could be argued that becoming a wealthy CEO of your own company, having a career in Education, or even joining the Military were all equally important as the 5, they weren't given as much importance in this region of the world.

Becoming a wealthy CEO of a company such as the SDC was great, but considering the fact that there would only ever be less than 1 percent that would become successful enough to warrant extensive amounts of education for places such as Signal or Beacon to provide, it would never be worth the cost. Furthermore, that "1 percent" didn't mean the one percent of students that graduated in the city… it referred to the entire population of people in the Kingdom. In some industries such as the Dust Industry, it might as well have been less than 0.1 percent of the population of the whole world.

For those interested in the great and fulfilling career of Education… well, there's a reason why everyone starts off by advertising it as "great and fulfilling". Even in the fictional world of "Earth", where there are no Grimm, billions of people, and each successive generation only includes more students (due to rising global population levels) that -due to increases in the level of technology- keep needing higher and higher levels of quality instruction…. The reality was that Education was always the first place that governments would look to cut funding from. Yep, that's right. This industry was mainly for people with big ideals (read: people with their heads stuck in the clouds) and were willing to sacrifice luxurious lives for the sake of their lofty goals (read: people who're willing to go hungry 2-3 nights a week, because their combined income from teaching and their 3 other jobs were barely enough to pay rent). Yep, the less said about this tragedy, the better.

As far as the military goes, they mainly recruited from Adults and Hunters. There was no need whatsoever for special classes for teenagers.

 ***Fun fact: That's also how places like Beacon Academy got excellent quality Instructors. They just recruited retired Huntsmen and Huntresses. Those that survived to an old enough age no doubt had knowledge to pass down to the next generation.***

In any case, for anyone not pursuing a career in the Big 5, public High Schools were also made available.

Given less funding, a lower threshold given for the qualifications needed for instructors, and a general lower-importance in all matters, these types of schools couldn't be even more different from Signal Academy in every possible way.

To start off, general High Schools were placed in shabby buildings or small compounds in easily accessible locations in defensible cities across the Kingdom, which anyone could get to by driving a car.

On the other hand, Prep Schools like Signal Academy were literal fortresses, designed to withstand onslaughts of Grimm, and were strategically placed equidistant between several cities. Special transport was provided everyday for students, and usually consisted of armored bullheads with accompanying squadrons for protection. This wasn't overkill, this was proper protection for the kids that would grow up to become the most powerful people in the Kingdom. In the case of Signal Academy, all of the above were true, with the additional fact that as an added security measure, it was also placed on an island off the coast of Vale.

High Schools in general required certain qualifications from its teachers which ranged from a High School Degree (at minimum) to a Bachelor's Degree. Anyone with better qualifications more often than not would choose to never teach at a High School.

Prep Schools were host to professionals and those that were at the top of their fields. Distinguished individuals such as renowned scientists Dr. Merlot and Doctor Arthur Watts, retired Huntsman and current General of the Atlas Military James Ironwood as well as retired Huntsman and current Beacon Headmaster Ozpin have all taught at Prep Schools at one point or another. In the case of Signal Academy and many of its sister schools…. unfortunately this was no longer true.

Due to the Color Revolution and the Faunus War which occurred 7 years after, many Hunters died in service to their corresponding Kingdoms. Even retired Huntsmen and Huntresses were called up to retake their old profession and join in the onslaught. Police Officers were drafted, Scientists were assassinated, Doctors were often killed by angry members of all armies for their refusal to discriminate in tending to the wounded, and many politicians were lynched once the slaughter was over.

And so as soon as whatever was left of the next generation came of age, they were all immediately snapped up and put into position regardless of the fact that they had little to no experience. There was no helping it as more often than not there were literally no others to choose from. So these new instructors had to do their best with wracking their brains for any lingering memories of _their_ teachers (the true professionals), and many scrambled to find their old Prep School notebooks for any scrap of knowledge that was remaining from the previous generation.

Coincidentally, this was also how Naval Rivers became Signal Academy's Principal, and his peers were made into teachers. Although Mr. Sands was still a true professional as he was a rare survivor of the bloodbath from the previous generation and the only remaining person truly qualified for the post of Instructor… it was a given that his teaching skills weren't the best of his generation.

In short though, Signal Academy was huge, well-equipped, and the teachers were at the top of their fields.

With four giant walls that surrounded a huge courtyard, at times the fortress felt more like a small castle rather than a school. The courtyard was filled with trees and nature, concrete paths winding through the incredible scenery, small ponds filled with fish, and a river -through a marvel of engineering- was pumped up from an underground lake and flowed back downwards after meandering its way through the calming lunch area.

It was a great place to eat as long as it wasn't raining.

At one of the tables in this place sat Ruby, who was busy scarfing down a pile of peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches. She had a blissful smile on her face. No one was around, so she could eat as many sandwiches as she wa-

Urk!

One of the sandwiches got caught in her throat! Ruby kept pounding her chest, having seen people do that on tv whenever they were choking, desperately hoping that it would go down. It was no use though. With a thud, Ruby fell off her chair and onto the ground. Black spots were already taking over her vision. ' _No! It can't end like this!'_ She weakly raised her hand up, grasping at nothing but the cold, cold air… until suddenly she felt someone grab her hand and pull her up into a sitting position. Refreshing coolness swam down her throat -' _water's never tasted better!-_ and the black spots in her vision slowly disappeared.

In its place was a familiar face with blue hair and green eyes.

"A-Aqua!" Ruby sputtered. "What're you doing here? Y-you didn't see what happened just now, right?" She laughed nervously.

"Uh…"

"Yeah… I guess you did, huh?" Ruby's head drooped in embarrassment.

Windchime-like giggles burst out from Aqua. "Don't be embarrassed, Ruby. It happens to everyone." She said as she stood up and put the glass of water back onto the table. "I bet next time you'll be the one to help _me_ out!" The blue-haired, 13 year old girl said with a cheery smile as she stretched out a hand towards her smaller friend.

Ruby took it, and Aqua immediately yanked her up.

Once the black-haired 12 year old was standing, she brushed off any last pieces of dirt from her skirt, before she looked over at her friend. It'd been a year since they last saw each other, and Aqua had _definitely_ changed. Before, she was just as tall (or just as short) as Ruby. Now though, the blue-haired girl was more…. _mature_. She was a full head taller than the silver-eyed girl, the black-with-white-highlights blouse and skirt that made up the Signal Academy uniform hugging the green-eyed girl's newly developing curves.

….Ruby was not jealous. She didn't notice how her friend's blouse was tighter around her chest area. She didn't feel her spirits drop like an anchor when she compared her friend's body to herself. She had been staring straight into her friend's eyes the entire time. And if her voice was a lot more chipper than was even possible for most people, it definitely wasn't because she was forcing it.

Nope. Not at all.

"So, Aqua!" She (happily!) said. Ruby definitely wasn't choking right now, she was just… going for a dramatic pause! It definitely wasn't because she didn't have anything to say. A breeze fluttered, her eye catching sight of a leaf that had been sent flying right between the two. "So...why don't we make like a tree, and leave?"

"But weren't you still eating your lunch?" The pile of sandwiches still left on the table just sat there, silently judging her and also proving Aqua's point.

"...Yeah."

Aqua practically erupted into giggles again. "Ruby, you know you don't _have_ to have something to say, just because it's been awhile since we saw each other. We've been friends for like, _ever!_ It's not gonna change just because you don't really know what to talk about."

Ruby almost literally brightened up, her smile this time going practically full-on sunshine. "Yeah!" Thankfully, though, she was also saved from making any more tries at conversation by a squawk of indignation from behind them.

"Sis! I can't believe you already started eating without me!"

"Did not!" The words flew out of Ruby's mouth before she even turned around.

"Did too! There were _eighteen_ sandwiches and now there's only twelve!"

"N-No! You probably just didn't count right, Kit!"

While the twin siblings kept arguing back and forth, Aqua, who had been forgotten by the two of them, stood staring at the both of them with eyes open in disbelief, her jaw dropped wide open. "Kit?" She said, slowly. "Is that you?" She didn't think it was possible. ' _Kit can't talk! How can it be him?'_ But any doubt she had was quickly swept away as the orange-haired fox faunus with purple eyes turned to face her.

" _Aqua!"_ Kit signed. " _Hey!"_ He opened his arms for a hug.

"Don't just " _Hey"_ me! Kit, I **HEARD** you. You can talk?! When have you been able to talk? Am I going crazy? Have-you-been-lying-to-me-the-whole-time-by-pretending-that-you-couldn't-say-anything?!" Questions poured out from Aqua's lips, each one going faster and faster.

"Aqua!" Kit's voice rang out. Aqua's eyes only grew wider even as she was silenced. "Come on, let me say something." He said with a smile at the way she was acting. "So, to answer your questions: Yes I can talk, I've been able to talk for about half a year now, you're not going crazy, and no I haven't been lying to you." He finished.

It was kind of funny to him to see her mouth open and close like a fish.

"Wha-wha-whaaaaaaat?!" She suddenly pointed at him. "Oh my Oum, you really _can_ talk now! How? What happened?"

"It's my semblance. When I found out what it was, I started using it to help me talk."

Aqua furrowed her brows in confusion.

Kit's right hand lit up with his silver aura. Like anyone with their aura unlocked, when his aura was active it swam over his body like a thin curtain of free-flowing water. _Unlike_ everyone else though, all of his aura suddenly gathered into the palm of his hand before it slowly rose upwards. In less than a second, it was already standing a foot tall from his palm upwards. The difference between before and after was plain to see, as the aura looked like it was wrapped and coiled around each other like a tightly-bound electric guitar string.

She watched as Kit used his other hand and flicked it. A _twang_ rang out, and Aqua realized that she was looking at something she'd only seen in sci-fi movies before.

A hard-light construct.

Somehow, the 13 year old girl managed to tear her eyes away from the thing floating in mid-air, and redirected her gaze into his silver eyes. The fact that she had even more questions was pretty obvious.

"Do you remember the reason why I couldn't talk in the first place?" Kit asked, tilting his head up and revealing the scars that ran up his throat.

Aqua winced. "Yeah, I remember."

"Dad told me a long time ago that my vocal cords were cut. So when they started teaching us about vocal cords last year in Life Science at Patch Primary, I was finally able to do something like _this_ ," Kit gestured towards the floating piece of aura which was now fading away. "I thought it'd be cool to do the same thing in my throat so I could talk." His purple eyes beamed at her. "Pretty cool, huh?"

The 13-year-old girl who had taken care of her group of friends for as long as she knew them, was silent.

Kit's smile started to slip, and he slowly backed away. He knew Aqua. She was like a mountain, always there and always reliable. But when she got quiet for too long… that was a sign that she was about to _erupt_.

That's when she turned to him again with a _sweet smile_ that sent shivers down his spine. "Kiiiiiit. Why don't you tell me more about how you basically operated on yourself just because you 'thought it'd be cool'!"

* * *

 **[The following event was so traumatic that Kit could never quite remember what exactly happened after. Regardless, he somehow knew that he came out of it completely and totally scarred for life, and had promised to never do something so "stupid" and "reckless" again without doing lots of research and telling her about it. The "her" in question apparently meant either Aqua herself, Ruby or Yang.]**

* * *

Before he knew it, Kit found himself sitting at the table scarfing down the rest of the sandwiches in a race against Ruby while Aqua sat next to the two of them and just stared. Nothing happened a few minutes ago. Absolutely nothing, except for that new promise he'd made Aqua.

"So let me get this straight," Aqua suddenly said, making the other two pause their frantic race to devour all the food on the table. "Your semblance lets you make hard-light constructs?" Seeing the confusion on the faces of the twins, she continued. "You know. It's like a hologram, but you can touch it."

The look on the twins' faces cleared up.

Kit shook his head, his silver eyes seeming to glint in the sunlight. " _No."_ He signed with one hand, a sandwich held in the other. " _It's more like Aura Manipulation. It's a lot easier for me to do things with my aura than anyone else can. But making anything solid takes a LOT of aura. I can't make much."_

"So does that mean you can do other things with it? Also, why'd you go back to signing when you can talk now?"

Kit grimaced. It was a question that everyone who'd found out he could talk now had asked, and it'd gotten a little annoying. Even his family had asked why he kept up with VSL after he'd fixed what they thought was a "problem". They just didn't understand that VSL _is_ his first language, not Commonspeak.

" _I've only been using Commonspeak for, like, less than 6 months. It still feels weird talking with your lips. Plus, I don't think I did those vocal cords right. My throat kinda hurts every time I talk that way._ The silver-eyed faunus paused. " _As far as what I can do, well, so far it's just stuff like this and Forced Speed."_

Aqua had a quizzical look on her face. "Is that the same as Ruby's semblance?"

The orange-haired twin shook his head. " _Not really. It's kinda like, uh, well like, um…"_ Kit's face scrunched up as he tried to think of a way to explain it. He turned his head to his twin. " _Sis? Got any ideas?"_

Ruby tilted her head in thought (and also to secretly take another bite of her sandwich). "Well," she started. "It's kinda like how a sprinter and a long-distance runner are different. Kit's a little faster in short distances, but he mostly goes in straight lines and can't run for long." Discreetly taking another bite and finishing her sandwich (which Aqua completely noticed), she paused. Later on, she would always say it was for dramatic effect, and would completely deny Aqua's claims that it was because she had been secretly finishing her last sandwich. "My semblance lets me run for as long as I have aura. I'm not as fast as him to start, but I've still got a lot of speed, plus I only get faster the longer I run. I don't even have trouble with turns, unlike Kit."

Said twin stuck his tongue out at her in response, to which she quickly (and as maturely as possible) stuck her tongue out at him too.

" _So yeah,"_ Kit finished up for her. " _That's kinda the big difference. I just send aura into my brain and muscles to force my body to go faster. It's fine, as long as there's enough aura to also protect and heal them from the damage. It's why I can't use it for very long, unlike Ruby who's just naturally fast and doesn't take damage from going at those speeds."_ He signed.

It was silent for a few moments as Aqua tried to process everything that happened, while Kit tried to process the fact that the sandwich he still had in his hand was _THE LAST SANDWICH_. He gave a stink-eye to his sister, who only gave an "oh so innocent" smile back.

"So basically, If we were to to explain it like it was about strength," Aqua started. "Then that would make Ruby the gorilla-"

"Hey!"

"-and that would make Kit the mom that manages to lift up a car to save her kid-"

" _I know you can't read VSL fast, so I'm going to slowly spell it out for you. Y-O-U S-U-C-K."_

"-does that sound about right?" The blue-haired girl asked her friends.

The twins looked at each other before they turned back to her.

"Those examples _suck-_ " Kit began.

"-and we're talking about _speed_ , and not strength-" Ruby continued.

"-but yeah, that sounds about right." Kit finished up. "I've been trying to find a way to do a strength boost too, but so far I've got nothing. Can't figure it out at all."

A bell tolled off in the near distance, signalling the end of the 1st and 2nd years' lunch break, while also signalling the start of the 3rd and 4th years'. Ruby and Aqua immediately stood up from the table and started heading back inside, before noticing that Kit wasn't following. "Aren't you coming, bro?" The black-haired twin called out.

"Nah, but I'll be right behind you guys. Knowing you, Ruby, you'll probably steal my sandwich if I walk back with you."

The two of them turned around and continued walking back inside, with Ruby having given no indication as to whether or not she'd heard him (but she _had_ ).

The orange-haired twin watched them disappear, his silver eyes glinting mysteriously. At this point there was only Kit Xiao-Long, the forest, and his sandwich.

… Or at least there _was_ , until someone reached out and snagged his sandwich right from his hands.

Silver eyes met purple ones as Kit Xiao-Long stood face-to-face with...himself.

"So," Purple-eyed Kit Xiao-Long asked as he gobbled up the sandwich, staring at a silver-eyed Kit who was standing in front of him. "When are you finally gonna tell Ruby about us?"

* * *

 **Beta: Saul'keth**

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Comment if you've got something to say, or if there's something I could've done better!**

 **So... This'll have to count for January's release. I know I said I'd post a chapter up in December as well, but things got really out of hand with the holidays. _That_ , and the fact that I had trouble figuring out how this chapter would go, means that this is the only chapter that'll be out this month, sorry.**

 **In any case, we've got a lot of things that happened in this chapter.**

 **It's been 5 years since the previous chapter where Kit had transformed to save his sisters. Due to the trauma, everyone's changed and become slightly different people. Not only that, but due to said trauma and the fact that they were all young kids, they also seem to have differing memories of what actually went down that day. As we've found out, Ruby has a skewed memory of shooting _both_ kidnappers (even though she only shot one) and thinks that their uncle Qrow showed up and took the criminals to jail.**

 **As someone commented sometime during Book 1, Aqua and Ash are finally back! This time, they'll be playing a major role in the story, and I honestly can't wait to see what you guys make of the things I've got planned.**

 **We've also, finally, got an explanation for what Kit's semblance is! No one got guessed correctly, but there were plenty of people that got close. Kudos to all y'all that almost got it!**

 **And finally... _That ending!_ What's going on with Kit? Why are there 2 of them? Would love to hear your thoughts, and while you do, I'll be _Wildly Laughing_ ;)**


End file.
